More on Kill Brand's Illegal T-Shirts - The Fashion Law

Last week we started to tell you about Kill Brand's infringing t-shirts, which consist of blatant replicas of the YSL, Chanel, Gucci, and McQueen trademarks, among others. To go a bit more in-depth, Kill Brand's use of these logos does not only amount to trademark infringement but such use meets the narrower standard of trademark counterfeiting. FYI: trademark infringement is the use of another's trademark or a mark that is confusingly similar to another's trademark. Counterfeiting, is narrow as it requires that the infringing mark: is made to look identical to another's mark, and is used on the class of goods that the original mark owner has registered his mark under. So, here, because YSL, Chanel, Gucci and McQueen have all have registered the specific trademarks that Kill Brand is using in the U.S. for Class 25 (which covers clothing), Kill Brand is likely liable for trademark counterfeiting. Why is this distinction important? Well, infringement most commonly results in an injunction, barring the infringer from selling anything with the logo at issue on it. Counterfeiting may result in anything from substantial fines to imprisonment.?

We consulted with our go-to trademark expert, Joseph Forgione of the Gioconda Law Group. Of the YSL tees in particular, Forgione said: "It's inconceivable to think that the proprietors of Kill Brand apparel came to the conclusion that it was a sound legal decision to openly infringe upon the intellectual property rights of Yves Saint Laurent in the YSL trademark and, thereby, engage in the sale of counterfeit clothing on their website. Kill Brand's activities are a bold attempt to trade on the goodwill and reputation established by Saint Laurent in its trademarks and will subject them to a variety of serious legal claims under which they will be directed to disclose the number of counterfeit goods already sold, the number of counterfeit goods currently remaining in their inventory, relevant supplier information and, ultimately, provide the remaining inventory of counterfeit goods to Saint Laurent for destruction, among other demands. If I were them, I'd quickly remove the products at issue before the matter escalates." See the other t-shirts in question below ...

Source: http://www.fashion-law.org/2012/10/more-on-kill-brands-illegal-t-shirts.html

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