The retail giant has contended that Yeezy’s proposed design “is likely to cause confusion, mistake and deception” causing the consumers to associate Yeezy with Walmart.
In a recent complaint filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Walmart has claimed that Kanye West’s Yeezy logo appears too similar to its own insignia.
According to a report by Bloomberg Tuesday, the retail giant has contended that Yeezy’s proposed design “is likely to cause confusion, mistake and deception” causing the consumers to associate Yeezy with Walmart.
As mentioned in the documents from the USPTO, Kanye West’s company had filed for a trademark application for its new insignia in January last year. The logo features eight dotted lines arranged “as rays from a sun.”
The similar looking logo of Walmart which features six rays in a circle and resembles a spark was approved by USPTO in 2008.
“It will be damaged by the registration of (Yeezy) mark,” Walmart claimed. “A design of six rays symmetrically centered around a circle” has been in use since 2007. The logo can be found from its website to commercials and “has become well known and famous as a distinctive indicator of the origin of (its) goods and services and a symbol of (its) goodwill.”
According to a letter provided to Fox Business , Walmart had written to the rapper’s company in July 2020, August 2020, January 2021 and February 2021.
“Walmart has repeatedly sought to understand Yeezy’s planned use of the Yeezy application, with the goal of finding ways in which the Walmart Spark Design and the Yeezy Application can coexist with another,” the letter said.
“However, to date, we have not received any conclusive information from Yeezy regarding the planned use or any cooperation from Yeezy in order to find common ground.”
In another Yeezy trademark news, Mascotte Holdings Inc. filed a trademark application for a logo which marks the rapper’s tie-up with Gap. The logo is a combination of West’s “YZY” and Gap’s navy blue color mark. The “YZY” logo along with the Yeezy LLC logo was filed with the USPTO in early April to be used on “handbags, backpacks, all purposes carrying bags, luggage toiletry” and a whole range of fashion products.
The collaboration between West, Adidas and GAP has helped the rapper become the richest Black American in history. The collaborations, reportedly, could be anywhere between $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion, while the rapper’s estimated worth is now $6.6 billion.
PJ has a background in management consulting and software development. At DesignBro, he combines both. Personal favorite brand of PJ is Jeep.
