GUESS WHICH ITALIAN FASHION BRAND HAS BEEN SUED REPEATEDLY BY GUCCI

On Friday, a French court rejected claims of trademark infringement brought by Italian Fashion house, Gucci against the well known fashion brand—Guess. The 44-page ruling denied Gucci’s request for $63.2 million in damages for allegedly copying their designs. Gucci described Guess’s designs as unlawful and parasitic free-riding on Gucci’s trademark and its general brand image.

This is not the first time that Gucci has sued Guess, in fact, they have sued them several times over the past six years and they have been rejected every time. Gucci has been ordered to pay Guess $34,500. In addition, the Italian brand has lost three of their trademarks. So at what point will Gucci stop suing Guess? When they lose everything and have spent all of their money in litigation?

Paul Marciano, Guess’s co-founder and CEO, said “I continue to believe strongly that all these legal battles are a complete waste of time and this energy and money should be focused on business.” Though the numerous suits may seem like a waste of time to the Guess brand, Gucci has not always lost. In 2012, Gucci filed suit in New York against Guess for trademark infringement and Guess found guilty of copying four of the five trademarked logos that Gucci listed in their claim.

Despite this single victory, it appears that the company is still not satisfied. There are no reports as to what changes Guess has made to its brand to combat this ongoing legal battle.

Maybe Gucci will file suit anywhere they have jurisdiction until they get what they want; at this point we are not sure what that is. So far they have filed in America, Italy, and now France; I am interested to see where they will file suit next.

By: Nicole Harris, Associate Editor of Art, Publishing, Music & Fashion

photo credit: barockschloss via photopin cc

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http://www.fashiontimes.com/articles/18187/20150203/guess-beats-gucci-trademark-legal-battle.htm