Vogue Magazine takes Black Vogue to court

Vogue Magazine’s Parent Co. is Suing “Black Vogue” Founder for Trademark Infringement. The company Vogue and Condé Nast’s parent company, filed suit against 26-year old designer and activist Nareasha Willis in a New York federal court, alleging that the name of her collection too similar to the name of its 125-year old marquee magazine and as a result, is likely to cause confusion amongst consumers, and damage to its well-known and “highly acclaimed” Vogue trademarks.

Accordint to the complaint, Vogue trademark has been used for the past 125 years on magazines (as well as on a “wide variety of goods and services,” including “advertising and e-commerce services, software applications for content in the field of fashion, hand bags, tote bags, purses, luggage, wallets, body creams, scented candles, jigsaw puzzles, nightclub and restaurant services, clothing and jewelry”), and they argue that the designer Ms. Willis “has very recently begun using the trademark Black Vogue in commerce, for the purposes of selling apparel items.”

They also say that the Black Vogue mark “mirrors the well-known font and stylization of long registered Vogue trademark” and that “in selecting the trademark Black Vogue for her products, intends to create a link between herself and Vogue, creating the appearance that the company is affiliated with Willis’ products, or that the company has licensed or otherwise authorized her use of the Vogue trademark, when that that is not the case.”

Immediately upon learning of the designer’s trademark application in June, Vogue alleges that its legal team sent Willis a letter, “requesting that she cease her use of the infringing Black Vogue mark and abandon her pending trademark application.”

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