A Wren Says

It happened. Chanel won its case against reseller What Goes Around Comes Around. The jury in the New York district court sided with the luxury brand on all four causes of action -trademark infringement, unfair competition, false advertising, and false association. –

A key issue in this case was that Chanel alleged that WGACA sold items that were counterfeit, or at the very least not authenticated. This included items with serial numbers that were voided following major thefts. This also includes those items that were gifts with purchase or display items that were never meant for sale. Because these items would not have had serial numbers in the system, there would be no way for WGACA to authenticate them, which means they should not have been sold. The legal experts quoted for coverage on this point to this setting a major precedent for the processes resellers will need to go through to ensure their products are authentic. This will be great for buyers, but potentially much more expensive for the retailers.

What I haven’t seen commented on is the claim regarding false advertising and false association. As it stands, WGACA is still posting social media content using Chanel. They still have the #vintagechanel on posts. Will they be required to change that? What will this ruling mean for how resellers market their products? What will they be able to do to draw customers in but not draw legal action from the major brands? In particular, what will this mean for how they do social media, given the issue of hashtags in this case?

At this point, things are not over yet. They will be making decisions on damages next. Let’s see where that goes and what this might all mean for the future of how luxury brands go after resellers and how the resellers will respond.