Hey everyone,
This is a story from 2016 but I still thought it was interesting to share! My partner went to school with a girl named Chanel who took the instagram handle “@chanel” when she made her instagram account in 2011. Apparently the company Chanel tried suing her to get that instagram handle in 2016. I haven’t been able to find any updates on the story so I’m not sure if they went through with the lawsuit but the “@chanel” handle is still held by the woman from Vancouver!
It appears that the only success Chanel had was getting a couple of the woman’s pictures removed, including a picture of a hair clip with the name “chanel” on it that could purportedly be interpreted as her impersonating the brand.
https://www.racked.com/2016/1/6/10723628/chanel-instagram-copyright
Apparently Chanel (the company) was successful in a different 2014 lawsuit in which they got an American salon owner to change the name of her salon, which she had named after herself (“Chanel Jones”). This illustrates a limit to a person’s ability to use their own name for their company. I’m curious if the outcome of this lawsuit would have been different if it was in Canada?
Communications Law