Chanel lost its trademark dispute against Huawei over a too ‘similar’ logo
The legal dispute between Chanel and Huawei, which began in 2017, might have ended definitively after the ruling of the Court of the European Union a couple of days ago. The clash between the historic French Maison and the Chinese communications giant revolved around the hardware company’s logo, consisting of two crossed semicircles, which could resemble two Cs aligned vertically, and for this reason, considered too similar to the Chanel logo with the two Cs. However, the European Union Court ruled, declaring that the Chinese brand logo can’t be traced to that of Chanel.
The story began in 2017 when Huawei asked the EU Intellectual Property Office (Euipo) for the green light to register its trademark for the hardware section. It was at that moment that Chanel stepped in, claiming that the logo in question was too similar to the two iconic Cs of the Maison. A couple of years later, Euipo issued a ruling against the French Maison, specifying that there was no risk of confusion between the two logos, emphasizing in particular that the double C was immediately recognizable and associated with Chanel.
The fashion house nevertheless took the case forward, taking it to the European Union Court, based in Luxembourg, which on Wednesday rejected Chanel’s request, arguing once again that there is no possibility that the two brands are confused. As the judges wrote, “the conflicting marks have certain similarities”, but they specify that “their visual differences are relevant. As for the Chanel brand, in particular, the curves are more rounded, their outlines are thicker and their arrangement is horizontal, while that of the Huawei brand is vertical.”
Huawei will therefore be able to use the logo with the two semicircles, while, despite the defeat, Chanel was once again proved of the power and fame of its logo, which continues to remain ultra-recognizable and identifying, even outside the fashion industry, making it the unequivocal symbol of Maison.
