Fashion Apparel Law Blog : Fashion Apparel Law Lawyer & Attorney : Sheppard Mullin Law Firm : Fashion Legal Issues

THE SITUATION IS ASKED NOT TO COVER HIS SITUATION WITH ABERCROMBIE ANYMORE

Abercrombie & Fitch issued a press release offering The Situation (of MTV's The Jersey Shore fame) "substantial payment" to stop wearing Abercrombie's clothes. The company's main concern is brand dilution. The press release explains the company is worried that The Situation's "association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image" and that this association "is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans." Whether this was a clever public relations strategy to generate publicity about the brand during the important back-to-school season or whether it is a legitimate branding issue that had something to do with the dip in Abercrombie's stock following the press release remains unclear. What is clear, however, is that people are talking about it. Common wisdom is there may be no such thing as bad publicity; however, it cannot be ignored that Abercrombie's stock fell sharply the day following the press release.
 

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On August 10, 2011, Judge Victor Marrero denied Christian Louboutin S.A.'s motion for a preliminary injunction to enforce its U.S. trademark (Registration No. 3,361,597) for "lacquered red soles on footwear" covering "Women's High Fashion Designer Footwear" in International Class 25. The Court held that "[b]ecause in the fashion industry color serves ornamental and aesthetic functions vital to robust competition, the Court finds that Louboutin is unlikely to be able to prove that its red outsole brand is entitled to trademark protection, even if it has gained enough public recognition in the market to have acquired secondary meaning." The decision not only concluded that the Lanham Act does not "exten[d] protection to a trademark composed of a single color used as an expressive and defining quality of an article of wear produced in the fashion industry," but also established a new precedent by concluding that trademark protection under the Lanham Act for the fashion industry differs from that in other industries.
 

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