A Wren Says

As I sat in the coffee shop, I saw a woman walk in. Her oversized, dress length shirt read, “Die for Dior Atelier.” Interesting, I thought I highly doubt this has anything to do with Christian Dior’s eponymous brand. As I did my search, multiple sellers and multiple variations of this shirt came up. It seems like this is a very common and sought after design. It triggered my trademark infringement alarm bells.

Presumably, this is just a fun design that someone came up with innocently. For those who are fashion loves and aspire to own luxury goods. Perhaps no one thinks when they see this that it is truly a Dior shirt, especially since it is at most $44. For that reason, perhaps a judge would just through out any case.

However, there is an issue that might come up, should the real house of Dior choose to stand up. Underneath the slogan is an address, “3 Rue de Marignan Paris.” If you search this, it will bring up Dior. Clearly, the inclusion of this detail is meant to point to the luxury house. Then in that case, it could be said to lead to confusion, with people thinking about authentic shirts and comparing it to these ones.

I think as of right now, Dior has no plans of pursuing a case. But if they were to, there is some ground to stand on. I think the more important issue is for those of us outside of the luxury houses and looking to take on similar projects. What you might think is an innocent little t-shirt hustle, could land you in a trademarks case. I mean after all, Coach did pursue Old Navy for including the word coach on their t-shirts. Why wouldn’t Dior do the same?