Have cross-border sellers evaded it? The new case of GBC law firm reminds me again!

It is understood that two brand cases have been represented by GBC law firm recently. Mai Jia supports friendship and reminds sellers to be highly vigilant.

GBC Law Firm is a well-known big BOSS in the cross-border circle, and it has always been active in major brand cases due to its due diligence. Only after a calm period, sellers may start to relax their vigilance. However, it is worth drawing the attention of sellers to the new cases represented by GBC Law Firm recently-Celine and Nipsey Hussle.

Celine

Celine brand is a French high fashion brand. In 1945, Celine Vipiana, a female designer, opened her first shop “CELINE, Le bottier pour enfants” in Paris, starting with selling high-grade boys’ leather shoes, which has a history of more than 60 years. At present, the brand’s products are rich in content, from clothing and shoes to jewelry and perfume are high-end fashion products. It is worth mentioning that the brand is also one of the luxury brands under LVMH Group, and was once selected as one of the top 500 brands in the world.

The case of Celine brand was initiated on September 8, 2021, and the case number was 21-cv-4775. This case is the second case of Celine brand since 2020. Infringement information mainly involves Celine’s word mark and iconic icons. First of all, let’s take Celine word mark’s infringement case as an example. Under normal circumstances, sellers will not directly copy word mark, a big brand like Celine, but it is hard to avoid similar brand names. Therefore, it is necessary for sellers to consult information from various aspects to see if there is a high degree of similarity with big brand names when creating brands. In addition, we should also pay attention to avoiding the similarity of iconic trademarks, which is likely to face the risk of infringement. In addition, sellers should pay special attention to the small details under the Celine brand. Since its establishment, there have been countless infringement cases under the brand, and they may fall into disputes if they are not careful, so sellers should pay special attention.

Nipsey Hussle

Nipsey Hussle is an American rapper and composer who was born in California. Representative works include The Marathon, Proud of that, Face the World and so on. On March 31, 2019, Nipsey Hussle was shot outside his shop in Los Angeles. However, his works have not faded with his death, and fans will buy some of his surrounding collections in memory of him. Therefore, the periphery of “Nipsey Hussle” has gradually formed its own unique trademark logo. Although products with stars are easy to drain, they are easy to involve infringement, and even be sued by law firms, resulting in losses, so sellers should try to avoid products with foreign stars.

Not only need to pay attention to word mark, but also the related icon logo and some lyrics and other information should be vigilant. For example, some famous singers’ albums and lyrics may have been registered for patent protection. Therefore, sellers who are or intend to develop into popular brands must avoid the information that they have applied for patents, and can’t try and make mistakes on the edge of the law by luck! Sellers can search for the two keywords mentioned in the article on the cross-border platform. If the above situation exists, pay attention to removing them as soon as possible, and don’t take huge risks to try and make mistakes!