#metoo trademark application withdrawn
Hard Candy Cosmetics has withdrawn its trademark application for ‘#metoo’ following widespread public criticism.
The US beauty brand, which sells make-up products through Walmart, abandoned its application to the US Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday, January 18.
Filed in October last year, the trademark, serial number 87,653,745, covered cosmetics and fragrances in international class 3, and US classes 1, 4, 6, 50, 51, and 52.
The #metoo movement has spread virally across social media since October 2017. It was used, predominately on Twitter, to help demonstrate the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault, in light of the allegations of sexual misconduct against film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Although the phrase has long been used by social activist Tarana Burke, it gained popularity following actress Alyssa Milano’s sharing of a note on Twitter which said: “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘me too.’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.”
The cosmetics company faced widespread criticism for attempting to trademark the hashtag a few days after it began trending worldwide. Hard Candy was accused of trying to profit from a campaign relating to sexual harassment and assault.
Hard Candy is not the first cosmetics company to link its products to the campaign. In a move that was received more positively, make-up brand Lip Slut released a lipstick called ‘F*ck Hollywood’ before the airing of the 75th Golden Globe Awards in January 2018, and donated proceeds to organisations helping sexual assault survivors.
If Hard Candy’s #metoo trademark had been approved, it would have been the only company able to use the phrase in relation to cosmetic products and fragrances.
Teen Vogue shared a statement released to it by Jerome Falic, CEO of Hard Candy’s owner Falic Fashion Group, following the trademark application withdrawal. Falic reportedly said “when the trademark application for #metoo was filed, one of our objectives was to bring greater awareness to this important and long-overdue movement. We planned to donate 100% of all profits arising from this trademark to #metoo.
“Based on several public responses, we have abandoned the application. We will continue to support the work of this watershed movement and other causes that respect the dignity of women and all people.”
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