Susan Scafidi was quoted in a New York Times article about a design infringement case between Cult Gaia and Steve Madden.
The founder of Cult Gaia, Jasmin Larian, has said she was inspired by bamboo bags made in Japan. “I used to collect them,” she told Who What Wear Australia in 2016. But she still may have a case for a trademark.
Usually “trademarks consist of words or symbols that indicate source — in fashion, things like the designer’s name on the label, the Nike swoosh or Adidas’s three stripes,” said Susan Scafidi, the founder of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University. Yet, the shape of an item can also serve as a trademark, she said, especially if shoppers associate it with a specific brand.
Ms. Larian is “trying to register the shape of the Ark bag as a trademark, arguing that, like the Hermès Birkin, U.S. customers immediately associate that style with her and Cult Gaia,” Ms. Scafidi said.
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The fight isn’t over. Ms. Larian “could still bag a trademark on the Ark design and hit Steve Madden over the head with it, but she’ll have to get past the U.S.P.T.O. first,” Ms. Scafidi said, referring to the patent office.