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27 November 2019CopyrightSarah Morgan

Versace sues fast-fashion label over Jennifer Lopez dress

Italian brand Versace has taken fast-fashion company Fashion Nova to court in a bid to “redress the flagrant infringement of legendary fashion designer Versace’s iconic apparel”.

In a suit filed on Monday, November 25 at the US District Court for the Central District of California, Versace accused US-based Fashion Nova of infringing its copyright, trademarks and trade dress by reproducing its signature designs.

These signature designs include Versace’s black and gold ‘Barocco’ print and the “Jungle Print” dress that Jennifer Lopez wore to the 2000 Grammy Awards.

According to Versace, Lopez’s dress was identified as one of the “most iconic dresses of all time” in a 2008 poll of consumers.

“Fashion Nova’s Infringing Apparel is plainly a deliberate effort to exploit the popularity and renown of Versace’s signature designs, and to trade on Versace’s valuable goodwill and business reputation in order to drive profits and sales to line Fashion Nova’s pockets,” said the claim.

Versace alleged that Fashion Nova’s ability to “churn out” new clothing so quickly is largely due to its willingness to copy the copyright-protected designs, trademarks and trade dress elements of well-known designers.

The Italian fashion house went on to claim that Fashion Nova is using the Versace trademarks within the content, text and/or meta tags of its website to attract various search engines.

Fashion Nova is also using social media spamming so its webpages show up at the top of relevant search results and misdirect consumers searching for Versace apparel, the claims added.

Despite notifying the fast-fashion company of its reportedly infringing activities on a number of occasions in 2019, Fashion Nova has continued to use designs that are “substantially similar to the Versace copyrights, and confusingly similar to the Versace trademarks and trade dresses”, Versace claimed.

Now, Versace is seeking an injunction against Fashion Nova and destruction of the allegedly infringing inventory, in addition to damages.

Earlier this year, reality star Kim Kardashian West secured $2.7 million in damages from Missguided, after she accused the fast-fashion brand of exploiting her trademarks and likeness on its Instagram account.

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