HUAWEI wins EU court battle against designer brand Chanel over silly logo spat

TL;DR

• A European court has favored HUAWEI in a HUAWEI vs Chanel battle over logo trademarks.
• Chanel posited that its iconic logo, above left, was co-opted by HUAWEI for its own logo, above right.
• The court said, “The figurative marks at issue are not similar,” leaving Chanel with the option to appeal.

When it comes to brand identity, nothing is more important than your logo. Famous logos can not only signify your brand’s status, but they can become cultural touchstones. We’ve seen this with logos from such disparate brands as Coca-Cola, Nintendo, and even FedEx.

Luxury companies are particularly defensive when it comes to their branding. After all, if anyone could just slap a design icon on its products, luxury firms couldn’t charge exorbitant prices for their otherwise simple wares, now could they?

Case in point: a legal battle over logos that pit HUAWEI vs Chanel recently ended in the EU (via Reuters). The fight centered on the iconic logo for luxury brand Chanel, as seen in the image above on the left side. Chanel accused Huawei of co-opting that logo for its own, as seen in the featured image on the right side.

See also: Did smartphones get a lot more expensive in 2020? Let’s look at the numbers.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself: “Wow, those logos look nothing alike.” If so, you’re in the same boat as a tribunal of EU judges who thought the same thing.

“The figurative marks at issue are not similar,” the tribunal of judges said.

Chanel tried to argue that if you flip the HUAWEI logo so that it’s on its side and then really use your imagination, the resemblance is clear. The judges didn’t buy that argument.

“The marks must be compared as applied for and registered, without altering their orientation,” the judges said.

This is actually the second time a HUAWEI vs Chanel legal bout happened in EU courts. The first time, Chanel also lost. Unfortunately, Chanel has one more chance to appeal this ruling, which would then go to the EU Court of Justice, the highest in the country.

Or it could, you know, just stop.