Page 15 - Katten Kattwalk and Kattison Avenue - Winter 2026 - Issue 5
P. 15
LONDON LEGAL LENS
When a Name Becomes a
Mirage: The CJEU on Designer
Surnames as Trade Marks
By Nathan Smith
ashion houses trade in dreams, and often in
names. But what happens when a famous
designer leaves the label, and the business
Fkeeps using the designer’s surname as a
trade mark?
The decision of the Court of Justice of the European
Union (CJEU) in PMJC confirms that the continued
use of a designer’s surname as a trade mark by a
successor company remains permissible following
the designer’s departure, provided that the way the
trade mark is used does not mislead consumers into
believing the designer is still creatively involved.
While the mere separation of a designer from their
eponymous brand is not, by itself, deceptive, the
court emphasised that context matters. Advertising,
visual presentation and the appropriation of a
designer’s distinctive aesthetic, particularly where
the designer’s copyright is infringed, may create a
sufficiently serious risk of consumer deception.
Where use of the trade mark fosters a false FashionStock.com/Shutterstock.com
impression of ongoing creative authorship by the Fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac
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