Guess wins latest trademark battle with Gucci

The trademark battle between Gucci and Guess has already been addressed in Italian and American courts and now the Court of Paris has ruled in favour of Guess, rejecting the Italian fashion house’s claims that the denim label had infringed its copyright and invalidated three of Gucci’s ‘G’ community and international trademarks.

The French court ruled that there was no trademark infringement, no counterfeiting and no unfair competition between the two brands, meaning that Gucci cannot claim exclusive use to the "G" logos any longer.

Gucci was requesting 55 million euros in damages but instead the Italian label was ordered to pay Guess 30,000 euros to end the six-year legal dispute.

Guess co-founder and chief executive Paul Marciano said: “For six years now, Gucci has filed case after case against Guess and lost time after time.

“On top of that, Gucci has lost some trademarks in the Italian case and now some in France as well. I continue to believe strongly that all these legal battles are a complete waste of time and this energy and money should be focused on business. Obviously, François-Henri Pinault [chief executive of Gucci parent company Kering] doesn’t see it that way.”

This marks Guess's second victory against Gucci in the six-year battle, following the Italian court’s ruling to cancel Gucci’s trademark of the diamond pattern, G logo and “Flora” pattern. However, in 2012, a New York court found that Guess was guilty of copying four of the five trademarked logos Gucci addressed in its claim.