Louis Vuitton Wins Suit Over Spears Video
Louis Vuitton won a lawsuit against Sony BMG, a Sony subsidiary and MTV Online over a Britney Spears music video that featured a car upholstered in counterfeit Vuitton-logoed fabric.
November 20, 2007 at 06:21 AM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
Louis Vuitton won a lawsuit against Sony BMG, a Sony subsidiary and MTV Online over a Britney Spears music video that featured a car upholstered in counterfeit Vuitton-logoed fabric.
A Paris civil court on Nov. 16 found Sony BMG, its subsidiary Zomba and MTV Online guilty of violating counterfeiting laws and fined each company 80,000 euros (around $118,000). Sony BMG and Zomba–which own Spears' record label–produced the video, and MTV Online offered the video on its Web site. Spears herself was not held responsible for the clip, which features the singer behind of the wheel of a Hummer with a dashboard upholstered in pink fabric with the “LV” logo.
The judge also restricted Sony BMG, Zomba and MTV Online from “airing and/or marketing the video by any means,” with the threat of a 1,000 euro fine for every day they do not comply. The court emphasized that the ban included Internet-based broadcasting.
The judge ruled that the use of the LV fabric in Spears' music video for “Do Something” infringed “the economic value of [Louis Vuitton's] brand, and notably the image of luxury it promotes and which appears to be far from the image put forth by Britney Spears.”
Louis Vuitton, a division of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has taken to the courts to protect its brand, which is now a common target of counterfeiters.
Days before the Spears victory, Louis Vuitton lost its challenge in U.S. District Court against a dog toy manufacturer that created a handbag-shaped toy labeled “Chewy Vuiton.” In that case, the judge ruled that “as a parody, [the company] separated itself from the [Louis Vuitton] marks in order to make fun of them.”
Louis Vuitton won a lawsuit against Sony BMG, a Sony subsidiary and MTV Online over a Britney Spears music video that featured a car upholstered in counterfeit Vuitton-logoed fabric.
A Paris civil court on Nov. 16 found Sony BMG, its subsidiary Zomba and MTV Online guilty of violating counterfeiting laws and fined each company 80,000 euros (around $118,000). Sony BMG and Zomba–which own Spears' record label–produced the video, and MTV Online offered the video on its Web site. Spears herself was not held responsible for the clip, which features the singer behind of the wheel of a Hummer with a dashboard upholstered in pink fabric with the “LV” logo.
The judge also restricted Sony BMG, Zomba and MTV Online from “airing and/or marketing the video by any means,” with the threat of a 1,000 euro fine for every day they do not comply. The court emphasized that the ban included Internet-based broadcasting.
The judge ruled that the use of the LV fabric in Spears' music video for “Do Something” infringed “the economic value of [Louis Vuitton's] brand, and notably the image of luxury it promotes and which appears to be far from the image put forth by Britney Spears.”
Louis Vuitton, a division of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has taken to the courts to protect its brand, which is now a common target of counterfeiters.
Days before the Spears victory, Louis Vuitton lost its challenge in U.S. District Court against a dog toy manufacturer that created a handbag-shaped toy labeled “Chewy Vuiton.” In that case, the judge ruled that “as a parody, [the company] separated itself from the [Louis Vuitton] marks in order to make fun of them.”
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