Alexander McQueen and the re-emergence of trade dress

    The fashion industry loves bringing back trends of season past (leggings, dramatic shoulders…essentially the better part of the Balmain Winter 09/10 collection), and this time it is Alexander McQueen who is reviving another trend: the trade dress claim.  In October 2009, the fashion house filed a trade dress infringement claim down the block from New York Law School at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan accusing popular shoe manufacturer Steve Madden, Ltd.  of infringing on McQueen’s trade dress with the production of a motorcycle jacket inspired bootie. 

McQueen produced the “Faithful” bootie in January 2009, and claims the bootie achieved the “distinctiveness” requirement of the trade dress section of the Lanham Act by the “wide spread media attention” it has received by being photographed on society’s trend setting fashionistas. (Interesting side note: does a shoe meet the non-functionality requirement of the Lanham Act?)

The trade dress claim is rarely brought when dealing with copycat designs, but Alexander McQueen was left with little legal alternatives.  According to Women’s Wear Daily, the lawyers for Alexander McQueen state, “ In fact, the only design element of the ‘Faithful Bootie’ that Madden did not deliberately copy is the zipper pull that contains the ‘Alexander McQueen’ trademark,”.  It looks as though Steve Madden designed his bootie with not just the Alexander McQueen shoe in mind, but also the McQueen legal department as well.

Comments

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Fashion trends have always been of interest to me. Right now I'm studying the history of hair removal. I hope that won't bring any lawsuits!