Girls everywhere will soon be forced to say goodbye to Guess® bags with an interlocking “G” logo. That’s because Gucci® won a big trademark infringement suit against LA-based Guess yesterday. Judge Shira Scheindlin, a district court judge in New York, finally ended a three-year trademark war between the companies with a payout to Gucci.
But is this a victory for Gucci? Perhaps it’s a hollow one—Gucci asked for $120 million for violation of its trademark rights, but the court only awarded $4.66 million in Guess profit from the unauthorized use of Gucci’s trademarks. I bet that award barely covered Gucci’s legal fees.
Gucci did receive an injunction against Guess’s use of three designs, but it gets to keep its delicate script logo “Guess.”
The designs that the court found problematic are the green and red stripe, the interlocking “G” pattern, and the square “G” that Guess used on its bags. Can you guess which shoe is a Gucci? Bonus question: why did it take three years to decide that this was trademark infringement?
Photo credit: meemal