The Fashion Law Blog reports…
A Chicago-based rapper has landed on the receiving end of a lawsuit from Burberry over his stage name and various elements of his branding, which the 164-year old British fashion company claims is infringing its world-famous trademarks. According to the complaint that it filed in an Illinois federal court last week, Burberry asserts that Marvel Yarbrough – a musical artist using the name “Burberry Jesus” – is engaging in “willful trademark infringement and dilution of the famous BURBERRY trademarks, as well as copyright infringement of Burberry’s copyright-protected design.”
According to the newly-filed suit, Burberry alleges that Yarbrough “adopted ‘Burberry Jesus’ as his stage name – which he often shortens to ‘Burberry’ – with an intent to replicate the Burberry brand and copy its well-known trademarks that have been used exclusively and continuously by Burberry and its authorized licensees for more than 160 years.” Yarbrough “uses the fame and renown of the BURBERRY trademark for his own personal gain,” the fashion brand claims, as well as “to promote his music, garner media attention, grow a fan base, and unfairly trade off of Burberry’s goodwill, all to Burberry’s detriment.”
Despite having “no association with Burberry,” which Yarbrough acknowledges in his Instagram bio, Burberry asserts that the rapper “has, nevertheless, gone to great lengths to create a Burberry-dependent persona” – from using @BurberryJesus social media handles and the burberryjesus.com domain to “posting photos and videos of himself in Burberry-branded merchandise, as well as his cars, which are vinyl-wrapped in prints bearing unauthorized copies of Burberry’s intellectual property.” Still yet, Burberry contends that “in promoting his music and music videos,” Yarbrough “also copies Burberry’s other famous and immediately recognizable trademarks, including its BURBERRY CHECK trademark, on his digital album covers and social media profile images,” as well as its stylized word mark, and its copyright-protected TB Monogram print.
Prior to filing suit, Burberry says that it undertook “extensive efforts” to put a stop to Yarbrough’s allegedly infringing conduct in an “amicable” manner, including by sending “nearly a dozen” cease and desist letters to the rapper since December 2019. While Yarbrough “initially indicated that he would comply with Burberry’s request to cease his infringing conduct,” Burberry claims that “subsequent events revealed that Defendant’s cooperation was feigned, and he had no intention of complying with Burberry’s reasonable requests.”
Read more at. https://www.thefashionlaw.com/burberry-is-suing-rapper-burberry-jesus-for-trademark-infringement-dilution/
