Hugo Boss advert accused of infringing indie band’s song

The record label representing indie band The xx has accused luxury fashion brand Hugo Boss of copying one of its songs in an advertisement without permission.

Hugo Boss released an advert in April called Master the light that promotes new sunglasses and optical frames. It features a man wearing the products while walking and driving around a city, with a song playing in the background.

But only now, in a tweet sent to Hugo Boss on October 3, has the band’s record label Young Turks told the fashion company that the advert infringes the group’s IP.

“As a firm built around original design, isn’t it odd that you’d pay for such a poorly disguised fake?” said the tweet, with a link to the advert.

Although the message did not spell out the claims clearly, the song used in the advert is believed to sound too similar to The xx’s track Intro, the first on the English band’s 2009 debut album of the same name.