[E-trademarks] VETEMENTS case going up to SCOTUS

[Jessica R. Friedman]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/world/europe/vetements-trademark-lawsuit.html raises a few questions for me:


  1.  The NY Times reporter analogizes the registration of VEUVE CLIQUOT, which means “widow cliquot” and refers to the company matriarch, for champagne, to the registration of VETEMENTS, which in French means clothing, for clothing. Is that an analogy the applicant has actually made, or is this just the usual ignorance of NY Times articles when it comes to IP?


  1.  The PTO refused registration on the ground that the mark is merely descriptive and that it appears to be generic. How can it be both?


  1.  The applicant’s response to the OA included the argument that “vetements” referred only to clothing as a category, while they are applying to register specific items of clothing: “Although the word “clothing” may have a relationship to an overall category of products, it is not the descriptive (nor generic) term for any specific item. A purchaser would not say they want to “buy a clothing.” Further, when the mark VETEMENTS is encountered an observer would first have to undertake translation of the word, and then draw a relationship to a specific item such as a sweatshirt”. I understand that we have to try any and every credible argument, but that one doesn’t strike me as falling into that category.


Jessica R. Friedman
Attorney at Law
300 East 59 Street, Ste. 2406
New York, NY 10022
Phone: 212-220-0900
Cell: 917-647-1884
E-mail: jrfriedman at litproplaw.com<mailto:jrfriedman at litproplaw.com>
URL: www.literarypropertylaw.com<http://www.literarypropertylaw.com>

[1479430908386_PastedImage]


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://oppedahl-lists.com/pipermail/e-trademarks_oppedahl-lists.com/attachments/20250910/f13f7f33/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001[95].png
Type: image/png
Size: 8892 bytes
Desc: image001[95].png
URL: <http://oppedahl-lists.com/pipermail/e-trademarks_oppedahl-lists.com/attachments/20250910/f13f7f33/attachment.png>