Ferrari goes toe-to-toe with shoe designer
Ferrari is ordering a fashion designer to remove an Instagram photo of his shoes on the back of a Ferrari — a car he owns and paid for — The Fashion Law reports.
At first, the cease-and-desist order sounds ridiculous, but Ferrari actually has a case. The argument is the Ferrari brand name invokes a sense of luxury and exclusivity, so displaying any other brand alongside it makes (or attempts to make) that brand seem luxurious and exclusive, too.
According to the letter to designer Philipp Plein from Ferrari’s outside counsel, Fabrizio Sanna, Plein’s photo attempts to associate the automaker “with a lifestyle brand perception.”
“The undesired connection between Ferrari’s trademarks on the one hand, and Philipp Plein’s line of shoes (and the questionable manner in which they are promoted) on the other hand, is interfering negatively with the rights enjoyed by Ferrari’s selected licensees, which are exclusively entitled to use Ferrari’s trademarks to produce and promote (a) line of shoes Ferrari branded,” the letter reads.
Complicating matters is the “questionable manner” in which Plein’s fashions are promoted. In the past, Plein paid “Chris Brown, who’s faced felony charges for rape, sexual battery and assault (among countless other allegations) to take the stage alongside Tekashi 6ix9ine, the rapper currently facing jail time for pleading guilty to sleeping with an underage girl and filming the act,” according to GQ.