FLB - Understanding the fashion industry — through law, business and culture.
FLB - Understanding the fashion industry — through law, business and culture.
FASHION, LAW & BUSINESS
Recent Analysis…
featured News
In an EU decision given today, the General Court has denied Louis Vuitton’s trade mark claim of acquired distinctiveness through use of ‘Damier Azur’ pattern. Providing more insight into the landscape of non-conventional trade marks in fashion.
In a landmark ruling the UK High Court has recognised NFT’s as property, in what could be set to become a leading judgment for NFT rights holders. The case brought by Lavinia Deborah Osbourne, arose when in January 2022 Osbourne, the founder of Women in Blockchain Talks, had two of her purchased NFT artworks from the popular Boss Beauties collection, a series of 10,000 NFTs representing diverse successful career women.
Christian Louboutin filed a complaint against the Eizo collection, a Japanese footwear manufacturer founded in 1959 that started to sell a red coloured rubber sole on a women’s - alleging that the manufacture, exhibition and sale of seven types of shoes with a red (rubber) soles by Eizo Collection infringed the brand’s intellectual property right. In a judgement that was handed down last month, The Tokyo District Court has decided that the red sole of "Louboutin" is a "general design".
Cartier has bought a lawsuit against Tiffany & Co (in a New York Federal Court) for trade secrets claiming that “Cartier has not only uncovered direct evidence of a former employee’s unlawful taking of Cartier’s valuable confidential information and trade secrets, but through determined investigation, Cartier has also opened a window into Tiffany’s disturbing culture of misappropriating competitive information.”
Hermes recently sued a digital artist for knocking off its Birkin handbag through the issuance of MetaBirkin non-fungible tokens (“NFT”), the artist created fuzzy images of the Hermes Birkin handbag and sold them as NFTs causing Hermes to bring a claim against the artist for trademark infringement. The outcome of Hermes' lawsuit against MetaBirkin NFT may provide a glimpse into the future of fashion and art in the metaverse. Here’s how…
High-end fashion businesses have recently often come under fire for cultural appropriation, and the latest company to be embroiled in this debate is jewellers Tiffany & Co. for the creation of a pair of almond-shaped emerald, diamond-encrusted sunglasses collaborated on with singer Pharrell Williams.
Assessing the Inherent Distinctiveness of Prada's Triangle Pattern: Insights from the EUIPO Board of Appeal Ruling