Zara and its parent company Inditex are accusing a Los-Angeles based fashion brand of engaging in a serial scheme of copyright infringement, false advertising, unfair competition and deceptive trade in order to mislead consumers about the source and nature of their apparel and accessories .
In the complaint they filed at a Federal Court in New York , Zara and Inditex allege that Thiliko and its owner Queenie Williams (collectively, “the defendants”) have built a business by passing off Zara’s fast fashion wares as their own. Thiliko allegedly purchased Zara products, removed the labels, replaced them with their own and sold them for significantly higher prices. The marketing and labels create the impression that the products are designed and manufactured by Thiliko and then sold through its own e-commerce website and other retailers
Thiliko’s “massive scam” does not stop there Zara and Inditex allege that in addition to marketing the misbranded Zara products as being designed and manufactured by Thiliko, the defendants have also systematically taken the copyrighted photographs that appear on Zara’s website and misused them to advertise and sell the misbranded products. Inditex asserts that while it is the rightful owner of the images that appear on Zara’s site, including but not limited to the 32 Images that it has identified as being infringed upon by the defendants, Thiliko routinely misrepresents Inditex’s copyrighted photographs as its own proprietary property.
Zara and Inditex allege that they have suffered substantial monetary damages as well as irreparable and un-quantifiable harm to Zara’s reputation and good will and they are seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief to bar Thiliko from further infringement on their copyright.
My take : First of all, it’s the hypocrisy for me Zara has literally made its name as one of the biggest retailer by translating other high end brands designs into mass- market wears and now they are suing Thiliko for almost the same thing. On the copyright infringement claim, i don’t think it would succeed considering the fact that you can’t copyright clothing designs .
But i think the passing off claim and the infringement on their copyrighted photographs claim has a likelihood of succeeding, I’ve attached some of the pictures and if you ask me Thiliko definitely copied those pictures from zara’s website, let me know what you think.
source- www.thefashionlaw.com
Communications Law