We’ve probably all seen the Guess items that look like Gucci.
We’re talking about the shoes that have the exact same silhouette in the same colors, but don’t actually have the same logo.
Well, we know that Gucci has seen it too, because they recently hit Guess with a $221 million trademark infringement lawsuit so that no one would ever see similarity in the brands again.
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U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin delivered the verdict yesterday that awarded Gucci a mere $4.66 million from their original $221.
In an opinion brief on the case, Judge Scheindlin wrote:
Over the past three years, the parties have put in countless hours and spent untold sums of money, all in the service of fashion—what Oscar Wilde aptly called ‘a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.‘ It is my hope that this ugliness will be limited to the runway and shopping floor, rather than spilling over into the courts.
Even though the judge may feel as though her time was wasted, Gucci still feels adamantly about the situation and has filed similar suits against Guess in China, Italy and France.
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Guess CEO Paul Marciano reiterated yesterday that he wished they could’ve settled this mess outside of court to begin with, so perhaps now the two labels can agree on a settlement price and finally lay this dead horse to rest.
We can definitely understand why Gucci is so concerned about the situation. They are a highly established label and bringing their designs and monogram to a lower pricepoint was probably never in their plans. It seems like a petty squabble to some, but from a fashion perspective it makes a lot of sense. $221 million worth.
SOURCE: The Cut
