Page 15 - Kattison Avenue Newsletter - Spring 2026 - Issue 16

The law provides a carve-out for entities (including affiliates)
with under $1 million in annual global turnover and for UK-Based Graffiti Artists
exclusive sellers of secondhand apparel or textiles, while
allowing any producer identified within the definition to Dismiss Their US Lawsuit
assume producer responsibility, thereby “relieving from those Against Vivienne Westwood
duties and liabilities any other person who manufactures,
distributes, imports, offers for sale, or sells the covered
product.” Fashion businesses, therefore, may need to revisit
By David Halberstadter and Asena Baran
their licensing and distribution agreements to explicitly assign
producer responsibility to one entity along the California
supply chain.
We have previously reported on the lawsuit that UK-based
Each year, the California Department of Resources Recycle graffiti artists Cole Smith, Reece Deardon and Harry Matthews
and Recovery (CalRecycle) will post a list of compliant filed against Vivienne Westwood and retailers of the brand for
producers, detailing the reported brands of covered products the British fashion house’s allegedly unauthorized use of their
for each. Retailers, importers, distributors and online tags “to lend credibility and an air of urban cool” to its apparel.
marketplace providers are tasked with monitoring the list Smith v. Vivienne Westwood, Inc., Case No. 2:25-cv-01221 (C.D.
of compliant producers and are prohibited from selling, Cal. Filed 02/12/25)
distributing, offering for sale or importing a covered product
The plaintiffs, known professionally as DISA, SNOK and RENNEE,
into California, “unless the producer of the covered product is
respectively, claimed that Vivienne Westwood used images of
listed as in compliance pursuant to this section for that brand
their graffiti to adorn items of clothing without permission. In
and covered product.”
our previous reporting, we raised a number of key questions
Civil penalties for noncompliance are stiff: CalRecyle can about the viability of the plaintiffs’ claims, including whether the
impose sanctions of $10,000 per day for violations of any artwork, which likely was not commissioned by the owners of
provision of the law, or as much as $50,000 per day for the buildings on which it appeared, would be considered illegal
intentional or knowing violations. In assessing civil penalties, and therefore not protectible under US law.
CalRecyle will consider factors such as the nature and extent
On April 30, the plaintiffs and Vivienne Westwood jointly filed
of a violation, the economic effect of the penalty, the violator’s
a stipulation to dismiss the entire action with prejudice, with
good faith attempts at compliance, the willfulness of the
each of the parties bearing its own attorneys’ fees and costs.
noncompliance and the deterrent effect of a penalty.
The court filing is silent as to whether the dismissal was part
CalRecycle selected Landbell USA as the PRO earlier this year of a more comprehensive settlement agreement, whether any
— other candidates were the Circular Textile Alliance and the money changed hands or whether the fashion house agreed to
Textile Renewal Alliance. Landbell USA is the US subsidiary of discontinue its sales of the offending apparel. In any event, so
the German Landbell Group, which helps global businesses ends the most recent dispute between so-called “street artists”
comply with environmental regulations. and retailers that lies at the intersection of graffiti, fashion and
advertising.
In late March, the American Apparel & Footwear Association
(AAFA), a trade organization that counts over 1,100
members, filed a petition in Sacramento County Superior
Court, asserting that CalRecycle’s designated PRO fails to
meet statutory requirements and seeking a preliminary
injunction. Specifically, the AAFA asserts that Landbell USA,
as the subsidiary of a foreign for-profit entity, is not truly a US
nonprofit organization and is not formed by producers.

A hearing is slated for August 7, but in the interim, producers
remain subject to the law’s registration deadline.

Robert Way/Shutterstock.com

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