Update: It looks Puma and Rihanna were not about to let slide U.K. retailer Topshop’s copies of their product. Today we received a statement from Puma saying it had applied for and received a preliminary injunction from the High Court of Düsseldorf, ordering Topshop to not sell take downs of their Puma by Rihanna creeper, fur slide and bow slide.
And it looks like any other companies thinking about making copies might want to think twice, as Puma also stated it is committed to protecting their designs as needed.
Check out the statement from Puma below:
“Puma has immediately reacted to the knock-offs that are being offered by TopShop in their shops and online and has successfully applied for a preliminary injunction which orders Topshop to not sell anymore their knock-offs of the Puma by Rihanna models creeper, fur slide and bow slide. The injunction has been granted by the High Court of Düsseldorf which has substantiated its decision with the fact that the TopShop copies infringe both Puma’s design rights and also have to be considered as unfair competition/passing off.
“The Topshop decision is another one in a series of court decisions that Puma has enforced so far in order to stop infringers from copying their Puma by Rihanna and Fenty products. We will continue to take action to enforce our global intellectual property rights both against other brands who seek to trade off our designs and reputation and those who trade in counterfeit products.”
Read the original story below.
In wack news of the day, fast-fashion retailer Topshop is selling a copcat version of Puma and Rihanna‘s bow slide. Topshop even managed to offer its version at retail before the original, which launched today.
If you look at the photograph shot at a U.S. Topshop (above), it’s a veritable cornucopia of copycat designs (’cause that’s what fast fashion retailers do!) with the U.K.-based chain also selling a version of Puma and Rihanna’s furry slide, as well as a slide with a woven chain leather detail that mimics the look of a Chanel slide. The Topshop bow sandal is priced at $30 versus the authentic version, priced at $90.
It’s not known what steps Puma took to copyright its sandal design, but protecting the bow design through U.S. law only works if “such design incorporates pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features that can be identified separately from, and are capable of existing independently of, the utilitarian aspects of the article.”
For further explanation from Forbes, “A design element is considered physically separable when it can be removed from an article of apparel and sold separately (e.g., a belt buckle), and conceptually separable when it comprises artistic features that do not contribute to the utilitarian aspect of the apparel and such features invoke an idea separate from the functionality of the apparel (e.g., a Halloween costume).”
In other words, there’s probably not much Puma and Rihanna will be able to do about this particular take down of their sandal at least in the United States. We, however, would highly recommend you not purchase the fake.
