Jimmy Choo fights Central Saint Martins student for trademark rights

Jimmy Choo has filed a request to invalidate the trademark of Central Saint Martins menswear design student Jerry Chu out of concern of confusion within the market. Chu, a 19-year old student from Guangdong Province China, applied to register his name in Beijing to leave an option open in case he chose to start his own clothing line after finishing his degree. However, Business of Fashion reports that Chu still has two more years left in school and hasn’t put serious thought into his plans for after graduation.

But still, footwear designer Jimmy Choo doesn’t want to take his chances. In the past, his brand has invalidated potential trademarks for Jenny Choo and Ray Choo.

“Jimmy Choo may well have assumed that the Jerry Chu registration was just another attempt to trade on the established Jimmy Choo name, since soundalike registrations are a particular problem in countries like China, whose primary writing system uses characters rather than letters,” Susan Scafidi, founder and director of the Fashion Law Institute told Business of Fashion.

Thus far, Choo’s invalidation request has only succeeded in bringing attention to the up-and-coming designer Jerry Chu. He told Business of Fashion, “I’m surprised so many people would care about me, an independent designer, a student.”