The decision was due to the Damier Azur’s lack of prevalence knowledge in the EU countries of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
Louis Vuitton’s recognizable checkerboard pattern, Damier Azur, lost its latest attempt to trademark the design. On Wednesday, the European Union’s General Court agreed with the Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office’s decision.
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The former accepted the latter’s case: Damier’s distinctiveness was not prevalent enough in the EU countries of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Despite Louis Vuitton being a Paris-based luxury giant, the Board of Appeal argues that there’s “a limited amount of evidence, specifically regarding the Member States concerned.”
Although Louis Vuitton doesn’t have stores in the mentioned states, the label submitted evidence of customer invoices residing in those areas. However, the Board found it insufficient.
Famous enough
“Interestingly, the Court also rejected Louis Vuitton’s argument that the analysis carried out by the Board [was] ‘detached from reality,’ since it ignores the fact that, throughout the European Union, consumers engage in homogeneous behavior regarding luxury brands, particularly because they travel and use the internet regularly,’” Eleonora Rosati, the Director of the Institute for Intellectual Property and Market Lab at Stockholm University, wrote.
The public also seems to be on the 168-year-old brand’s side. In an Instagram post by The Fashion Law, one commenter described the decision as “wild and disrespectful.” At the same time, another shared, “Literally anyone who knows leather crafts and luxury brands knows that the Damier is a distinctive signature of Vuitton.”
Banner image design by Paolo Torio from photos via Louis Vuitton’s website.
