Last April U.S. fashion label Off-White by Virgil Abloh filed a trademark
infringement complaint against jewellery brand Rastaclat for using
quotation marks around words and that its bracelet “was infringing several
Off-White trademarks.”
According to the World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR), Off-White said
it has extensively used quotation marks around terms in commerce, and the
public has come to recognise such quotation marks as being a source
identifier for the brand.
Rastaclat’s bracelet also features a red zip tie, which Off-White in its
complaint said it has a number of pending trademark applications including
the “Off-White Red Zip Tie” which it also uses on a number of its items. So
far so confusing.
While both parties have reportedly settled out of court, Off-White is no
stranger to copyright disputes and often finds itself on the receiving end
of infringement complaints.
Off-White vs OffWhite Co.
In New York this month Abloh received a complaint of a violation of
copyright from OffWhite Co., spelled without a hyphen, at the federal court
in New York City. The creative agency alleges that Off-White has gone too
close to the identity of the company founded 15 years before the streetwear
brand was launched. Furthermore, Abloh’s Off-White is said to be obscuring
the possibilities of OffWhite Co. to appear in search engines and on social
networks, and having monopolised the use of the hashtag #OffWhite in unfair
competition.
Possibly the most blatant copying of a trademark is Off-White’s arrow logo,
which bears a near literal iteration to that of Glasgow Airport’s logo,
designed by Margaret Calvert in the 1960s. Interestingly, Calvert also
designed a paint scheme for the airport’s vehicles, forklift trucks and
flight ladders, consisting of the arrow logo juxtaposed with yellow striped
tops so that they are clearly visible from the air. Off-White also uses a
similar stripe pattern for its branding.
It’s all in the stripes
Take a trip down copyright lane and two years ago Off-White sought federal
trademark protection when Paige Denim claimed the vertical stripes
Off-White uses has been a signature branding design for upmarket jeans
company since 2005. Off-White subsequently filed a suit stating its
diagonal stripe trademark did not infringe on Paige’s striped patterns.
One year ago Oslo-based sportswear company Helly Hansen alleged Off-White’s
logo to be confusingly similar to Helly Hansen’s HH Stripe Logo. At the
time Helly Hansen filed a suit in the federal court in Illinois seeking
monetary damages for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and a
violation of Illinois’ Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
It is clear that fashion auteurs often draw on past inspiration with the
reasoning that their interpretations are used in a more contemporary and
thus novel way. This practise has by and large been accepted by the fashion
industry and public alike, and the reason why the high street sells clothes
that quite literally appear to have walked off the luxury brand catwalks
and straight into their stores. But when those who liberally ‘copy’
references and then point the finger when other companies are inspired by
them, that the power of big companies becomes apparent when they so easily
wipe the grey areas clean. Or white in this case.
Photo credits: Off-White via Off-White website; Glasgow Airport logo via
Design Week
