FTL’s newest post features a recap on an interesting US copyright infringement issue. This involved super-brand Gucci and occurred during a showcase of its Spring/Summer ‘16 collection.

The grudge arose when Gucci’s models walked down the catwalk in New York wearing golden nail rings highly similar to those designed and created by jeweller Bijules.

All about nail jewellery

Bijules is a famous jeweller renowned for its signature nail rings, with ambassadors such as Rihanna and Beyoncé flying the flag for the brand.

As we know from the last “Hey! Hands of my IP!” post on copyright, which you can find here, unlike copyright protected by English law, copyright in the US is a legally registerable right.

Bijules protected its copyright in the ‘Bijules Serpensive Nail Ring’ and ‘Bijules Serpensive Nail Ring II’ by registering them with the US Copyright Office in 2007. To view the registrations, type “Bijules” into the search box of this link.

Bijules bites back

Bijules founder, Kim Jules, stated that she may consider bringing proceedings against Gucci for copyright infringement following their use of the nail rings and commented:

“While it is an honor to be knocked off by Gucci, they have all of the resources to create something unique; instead they went back to something that’s steadfast and iconic of my company and that is unjust. If Gucci sells those nail rings to stores, those stores are going to believe Gucci made them and not me, and that is not a fair statement.”

Jules also pointed out that Gucci Creative Director, Alessandro Michele, was aware of Bijules and their nail rings.

Here’s an example of the original Bijules designs:

and here’s an example of Gucci’s later versions:

Too close to warrant coincidence methinks!

A slap on the Gucci “Bijuled” wrist?

To date Kim Jules has not brought formal proceedings against the Italian fashion power house, and there doesn’t appear to have yet been word on whether Gucci will be making the nail rings available for retail sale.

FTL comment

Perhaps Gucci has taken note and won’t be progressing its “Gujuled” nail rings! Perhaps Kim Jules doesn’t think pursuing this would be commercially worthwhile…

In any event, this is a great reminder that you should never ever try to pass off another’s design as your own. You will be found out!

A tut tut to Gucci who should know better!