In-house legal departments have been busy lately at a number of brands including Walmart who has taken issue with a new trademark filed by Kanye West’s Yeezy brand.
In January of last year, Yeezy filed for a trademark application for a logo to be used for a variety of uses across a number of categories that include retail services, apparel, music, hotel services, and even modular homes to name a few. The logo is described in the application as consisting of eight dotted lines, each comprising three totally shaded circles, with a total of 24 circles, arranged at equal angles as rays from a sun.
Prior to approval of the trademark, retail giant Wal-Mart has filed a dispute in opposition to the trademark application claiming that the new logo by Yeezy is confusingly similar to its company’s logo that has been use for more than a decade. In its filed notice of opposition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, Walmart claims that “it will be damaged by the registration of [Yeezy’s] mark.”
Walmart continued that if Yeezy LLC is permitted to use the mark in question that it will “likely cause confusion and lead to consumer deception as to the source, origin and/or sponsorship of the goods and services promoted and sold under [Walmart’s] mark, causing damage and injury to [Walmart].”
Whether or not Walmart’s notice of opposition will be enough to cause the trademark application to fail is unknown at this time, but we will keep you posted on updates to this and other footwear related disputes.
The news of the opposition was first reported by The Fashion Law with contributions on social media by trademark attorney Erik Pelton.
