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Rapper Kanye West and his brand, Yeezy, have caught themselves up in another legal battle. But this time, it’s with America's biggest multinational corporation, Walmart.
The U.S. mega retail company has filed a Notice of Opposition against Kanye West's Yeezy sneaker/apparel line. The lawsuit details Yeezy's logo as being similar to Walmart's brand identity.
Walmart objects to Kanye West led Yeezy's new logo for similarities
Some argue that the "lookalike" logo trademark confusion is more complicated due to their similarity. But the internet is divided, with some calling out Kanye West for stealing the logo while others call it fair play, let us explain.
Earlier this year, Kanye West's brand, Yeezy LLC, filed an application to trademark its new logo. As the application for the brand states, the logo, consisting of “eight dotted lines, each comprising three totally shaded circles, with a total of 24 circles, arranged at equal angles as rays from a sun,” will be the new face of the brand for Yeezy.
The new stylized logo was also intended to be used in Yeezy's brands of clothing, sneakers, retail store services, musical recordings, and more.
Kanye West plans new logo for Yeezy and other connecting brands
Almost four months have passed since Kanye West’s company filed an application for a U.S. patent, and Walmart has now responded to the registration, claiming that its brand shall face damages by registration of the new mark for Yeezy.
The hypermarket corporation even argued in its opposing filing that Walmart’s 13-year-old sun ray mark logo would be subjected to unnecessary “confusion” among customers and also lead to “false suggestions of a connection” between the two brands.
Walmart has gone on to point out that Kanye West’s plans to use the new Yeezy logo for purposes related to Entertainment will once again clash with their own brand that “has sold products and done marketing campaigns in association with Jennifer Garner, the cast of Queer Eye, Drew Barrymore, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Ellen DeGeneres, and Sofia Vergara to name a few.”
Walmart has urged to settle legal battle with Yeezy
Walmart's six-pointer rays and Yeezy’s new eight-pointer with 24 circled lines of rays share a few similarities, except for the fact that the 13-year-old retail brand’s logo differs in shape and color.
So far, West hasn’t responded to the lawsuit making news, but Walmart has pointed to its letter sent to Yeezy’s legal team on April 19.
While Walmart has attempted to settle the matter, the rapper’s apparel brand is yet to respond. That hasn’t stopped the internet from sounding off their opinion:
This isn't the only lookalike trademark that Yeezy has filed lately. The brand recently filed paperwork to register another logo as part of their collaboration with Gap. But the problem is that it shares too much of a similarity with the fashion brand.
Kanye West’s Yeezy was also earlier involved in an entirely different legal issue after being sued by a Japanese fabric company, Toki Sen-I Co., for dodging the settlement of an ordered bill. However, the case was dropped by the fabric company.
