Givenchy Sues BCBG Over Handbag
By: Ainsley Brown
A large part of managing one’s brand is protecting that brand – this axiom is as true for the mom and pop operation as it is for a multimillion dollar operation. While this protection may come in many forms it often; and cynics may say all too often, in the form of litigation.
The intellectual property– creating, the rights in and to- are the nuts and bolts of any brand and protecting these rights are the cornerstone of brand management law. It comes as no surprise then that Givenchy, a brand build around luxury, feeling that one of its designs has been copied and sold at a lower price would take action to protect its rights.
Givenchy filing suit in California district court alleges that BCBG has copied one of its signature handbags, namely its Nightingale which it claims BCBG has copied and re-branded to be their Rembrandt. The Nightingale retails for US$2,175 vs. US$118 for the Rembrandt – some difference eh.
Givenchy believes that the Rembrandt goes beyond customer confusion in the market but leads a customer to believe that the handbag is somehow sanctioned by Givenchy. That is so say that Givenchy believes the Rembrandt is a carbon copy of the Nightingale. Or in its own words: “deliberately copy, line-by-line and stitch-by-stitch, distinctive, nonfunctional elements of Givenchy’s Nightingale Trade Dress.”
My only comment is if Givenchy had built it’s brand on more than luxury, glitz and glam then they wouldn’t have to worry about copies and intellectual property theft because their customer base would acknowledge the construction, durability and refinement of their products at the till.
Thanks for you comment Kia, however IP and brand management is much more than building a strong brand than allowing the market place to know the difference between “us” and “them.” If it it were only that simple, then no one would ever have to wory about IP theft, simple build a strong brand.
But it doesn’t work like that; you cannot have people taking advantage- that is if this case proves to be true- of your hard work and investmnets in building your band. By this I mean all the that goes in design to ads.