Will Chao Brand Off-White Be Renamed By Offwhite?

The more popular brands are, the easier it is to raise controversy. According to fashion business news, the street brand Off-White, created by designer Virgil Abloh, was recently accused by the New York marketing and design organization OffWhite Productions LLC about its alleged trademark infringement, unfair competition and dilution of common law trademarks.

OffWhite Productions said the company has been established since 1990s, 15 years earlier than Off-White, and the official website domain name and social media account name is also known as "OffWhite Production". Its main customers include Nike Brands, technology company IBM and Coca-Cola.

And since Virgil Abloh founded the Off-White brand, the exposure rate of the search page has dropped dramatically, and it has not been able to mark the "OffWhite" keyword in the social media, causing serious impact on its business.

In view of Off-White's refusal to respond after receiving the warning letter and continuing to submit more trademark applications related to "Off-White", OffWhite Productions decided to sue, demanding that Off-White stop the infringement as soon as possible and make corresponding financial compensation. Some analysts believe that the OffWhite Productions lawsuit will be a tough battle.

According to the law of the United States, according to the requirements of the US federal law, the premise of trademark infringement claims is similar trademarks, products and services must be similar. Although the advertising industry of OffWhite Productions is closely related to the fashion industry, consumers will not confuse the two parties in view of the high popularity of Virgil Abloh and Off-White.

OffWhite Productions did not win too much for the allegation of trademark dilution. The federal law of the New York requires that the trademark must have a unique quality or meaning. The status of Off-White in the consumer's mind is beyond doubt. But whether OffWhite Productions has the same or higher influence remains to be considered.

In fact, Virgil Abloh is extremely good at making changes and multiple reorganizations on the basis of finished products. He once called this thinking and design method the "3% rule", transforming the ordinary articles into a precise proportion, but it is precisely this talent that makes its design full of controversy.

In addition to its name, Off-White's symbolic cross arrow Logo has been accused of plagiarism. The instagram account Diet_prada, known as "fashion police," pointed out in its postscript that the Logo of Off-White is very similar to the Logo design of the Glasgow airport in 1965, and has a photo of Virgil Abloh.

In January last year, Chinese designer Phillip Lim accused Off-White of copying the 3.1 Phillip Lim Alix handbag designed in 2015, and the two largest handbag was the same as the clippin design on the bag. Off-White did not respond positively, but its official Instagram account quickly deleted photos of handbags.

Another industry pointed out that in the early autumn of this year, the Off-White 2019 autumn and winter series has a yellow graffiti suit, which is very similar to the graffiti jacket of the autumn and winter series designed by Punk Elie, the son of Michelle Elie.

And Virgil Abloh recently released a group of super model Gigi Hadid photos after her personal account. Gigi Hadid wearing the Louis Vuitton 2019 autumn winter series dress was also accused of plagiarizing the designer brand Peter do released two months ago.

Surprisingly, a succession of plagiarism has not had much impact on Virgil Abloh's career and Off-White's brand performance.

According to the fashion business news earlier, the Italy group New Guards Group Holding S.p.A, which owns Off-White 53% shares, said in a statement earlier that the sales of Off-White rose from 2 million 600 thousand euros in 2014 to 56 million 500 thousand euros in 2017, with 36 sales outlets in the world.

The rapid growth of Off-White in the world has gradually attracted the attention of LVMH, the world's largest luxury fashion group. At the beginning of this year, a source revealed that after the Virgil Abloh was invited, LVMH was still negotiating with New Guards Group Holdings S.p.A on the acquisition. Previously, the group had already met several private equity funds but failed to reach an agreement.

New Guards Group Holdings S.p.A was founded in 2016 by Milan advanced boutique Antonioli founder Claudio Antonioli, apparel industry Davide de Giglio and designer Davide. It only built up the prototype of the tide empire in only 2 years and became an important participant in the fashion industry.

In addition to Off-White, the group also has a potential brand matrix, including the trend brand Palm Angels that is popular among young people, the designer brand Heron Preston, Unravel Project, Marcelo Burlon, A Plan A, and the Italy knitting brand in 2017.

What it means is that Off-White has also begun to actively protect its intellectual property rights. According to The Fashion Law, Off-White launched a plagiarism lawsuit earlier this year to the accessories brand Rastaclat, a $18 "Off-Clat c/o Rastaclat" bracelet, which is being sold by brands and retailers including Amazon in the name of "Off-Clat" and / or "Off-Clat c/o Off-Clat".

In the case, Off-White thinks that Rastaclat's products use its classic quotes and red zipper elements to try to confuse consumers and make them mistaken for buying Off-White products. But despite Off-White's lawsuit, the brand actually did not apply for a patent trademark for the appeal element.

In this regard, Off-White believes that in the 6 year development history of the brand, these two design elements have accumulated trademark assets through a wide range of marketing activities and the resulting consumer reputation and public opinion effects. Retailers, consumers and the public are already familiar with Off-White products and brand names, and they are specifically linked to Off-White.

In July 2018, Off-White applied the trademark of the red zipper to the USPTO of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but was initially rejected by the agency in December. At present, the brand is still working on applying for the registration of "red zipper" for trademark, trousers, headwear and footwear.

According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the definition of red zipper trademark is full of potential problems. Zipper lace itself is functional, while functional products can not be used as trademark protection. However, the elements of Off-White's patent application are red zippers. The brand claims that red is part of the trademark, but people believe that this element in essence is not unique.

Earlier in a paper entitled "spoiler Off-White", WeChat public number LADYMAX wrote that when the industry simply attributed the success of Off-White to the rise of the trend culture, it tended to overlook the deeper mode of production.

Up to now, Off-White and New Guards Group Holdings S.p.A have not responded to the latest trademark infringement allegations.