I've come a long way since my first days at Fordham where Intellectual Property was causing my brain to explode. I'm not suggesting I'm an expert -- not by any stretch. However, I have gained a lot more confidence and fundamental understanding of the terms and issues after long class days discussing and analyzing Federal circuit cases and US Supreme Court cases. Take Louis Vuitton. I take care to write their name-- they vigorously defend their brand and take serious efforts to protect against counterfeiters. With good reason. Whenever I see an iconic brown bag with the LV logo, I always wonder, "is that real?" I candidly admit I do not want to own the iconic bag because it seems like there are so many fakes. In 2012, for instance, LV sued Warner Bros, the distributor of the movie, "The Hangover 2." LV sued for the scene where Alan (Zach Galifianakis' character) says to Stu (Ed Helms), "careful, that's my Lewis Vuitton." The pictured bag was fake and LV was afraid consumers would confuse the fake bag for a real one. LV lost the case, by the way; although I think LV's premise that fake brown bags are ubiquitous is legitimate. | Recently, Hermès International (20% of which is owned by LVMH) filed a trademark infringement action against Emperia, Inc and TOP’S Handbags Inc for the sale and distribution of Birkin lookalike handbags. The complaint alleges that Emperia took orders from an online retailer, JustFab, to produce and distribute the lookalike bags thus violating Hermès’ trademarks. This is a screen cap I found on Polyvore: Hermès alleges that the Defendants’ handbags are made of “vinyl, not leather, and wholesale between $15-20.” The fake bags probably retailed for $40 or so. A real Hermès starts at $6,000 and goes up from there. What do you think? Is there any confusion that a $20 bag made of vinyl could be mistaken for a real $6,000 leather handcrafted bag? Should only the elite be able to carry a Birkin? Not to stir up any trouble< ahem> …. We had a discussion in class. The Mom of one of my classmates asked her what she wanted for her birthday. My classmate jokingly replied, “a Birkin bag would be nice.” So her Mom presented her with a “birkin bag”and the Mom was so pleased and happy thinking she had fulfilled her daughter's wish. She’d paid $500 for a custom-made Birkin bag– but it wasn’t a real Birkin. Here’s the site – you can build your own: http://www.nouramira.com/pages/custom-made-birkin-style-bag. This company doesn’t pretend to be selling the Birkin bag – but they make no bones about their product being a “birkin-style bag.” Is that different from JustFab? |