Copyright and Trademark Battles

Google and French Publishers Copyright Battle

France’s Competition Authority ruled that Google must “negotiate ‘in good faith’ licensing deals with publishers and news agencies for any reuse of copyrighted content” (CNBC). They claimed that Google breached this ruling and fined them $593 million.

Google had engaged in a digital copyright deal with French publishers in January that said they would “negotiate individual licenses with members of France’s press alliance” (CNBC). France’s Competition Authority had a problem with this as it did not include remuneration for the content protected by “neighboring rights”. French publishers just want to be properly compensated for the use of their work.

Yeezy and Walmart Trademark Battle

In this case, Yeezy is suing Walmart for unfair competition for selling copycats of Yeezy’s Foam Runner Shoe. The complaint filed on June 24th, 2021 says, “Walmart is flagrantly trading off of West’s and the YEEZY brand’s popularity by offering for sale an imitation version of the YEEZY FOAM RUNNER.”

Yeezy and Kanye West bring up things that consumers say on social media calling the Walmart shoes, “Walmart Yeezy’s”. Yeezy did not authorize Walmart to make or sell the shoes. The Unfair Competition prohibits “any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice, or false, deceptive, or misleading advertising.” Because the Walmart shoes are cheaper but made to look the same, Walmart took away market share from Yeezy.

Yeezy could say that Walmart is diluting their brand. They could claim that they are blurring consumer perception as Yeezy shoes are particularly unique and Walmart happens to be selling shoes that look exactly alike, which creates consumer confusion.

There has been a past lawsuit filed by Walmart against Yeezy over their logo because it looks very similar like Walmart’s. Walmart states that because of this it will make it harder for consumers to see the difference between the two. Also, because Walmart will make partnerships with other celebrities, consumers could think that Walmart and Yeezy are working together.

Thus why this shoe lawsuit has come up, consumers think that Yeezy is working with Walmart because the logos are similar. Walmart states that they are not the sellers of the knock off shoes, rather they are third party marketplace sellers.