Levis in a lawsuit accuses Coperni of infringement of its trademark

Levi’s has filed a lawsuit, against Coperni for its alleged use of confusingly similar little fabric tabs and a lookalike stitching pattern. Moreover, it accused Coperni of offering up jeans bearing the infringing trademarks alongside authentic Levi’s products.

that have been “reworked” by the buzzy fashion brand in an unauthorized manner, thereby, not only creating the potential for consumer confusion as to the source/nature of the denim at issue but also “depriving [Levi’s] of its rights to use and control [the] use of its trademarks and maintain its reputation with consumers, licensees, and collaborators, including the exclusive use of its trademarks on products and services that [it] creates, produces, licenses, and sells.”

The complaint was filed in a California federal court on September 7, in which Levi’s asserted that it began using its tab trademark back in 1936, making it one of “the oldest and most well-respected apparel trademarks in the world. It claimed the trademark is recognized around the world and throughout the U.S. by consumers as signifying authentic, high-quality LEVI’S® garments. Its Arcuate trademark, which consists of “a distinctive pocket stitching design,” Levi’s claims have “continuously” used this mark on clothing products, including jeans, since 1873.



Coperni according to Levi’s, is infringing – and diluting – the “famous” Levi’s tab trademark by affixing a small fabric tag to its products, including the back pocket of its denim offerings and the front pocket of button-up shirts, and using that tab as “a symbol for its apparel products.”

Beyond the fabric tabs, Levi’s also points to Coperni’s simultaneous sale of reworked Levi’s products. Levi’s asserts that in addition to offering up the Coperni-branded products with the allegedly infringing tabs, the Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant-founded womenswear brand is selling “unauthorized ‘reworked’ versions of [Levi’s] authentic apparel products.

Experts say what Levi’s appears to be doing here is bolstering its likelihood of confusion by arguing that Coperni is not only using lookalike tabs on products that are similar to its goods (a situation which tends to favor the trademark holder). But the denim-maker claims that the allegedly infringing Coperni products are also being offered up/sold in the same types of channels as its wares, partially due to Levi’s practice of collaborating with brands that are situated similarly to Coperni. Levi’s partnerships/collaborations with brands like Vetements, Junya Watanabe, and RE/DONE, among others.

According to Levi’s complaint, reworked products consist of Coperni miniskirts fashioned from Levi’s jeans, for example, and Coperni trousers that include a flair made from the chopped-off waist and thigh portions of Levi’s jeans.



It is not yet clear exactly what Coperni will argue in response to Levi’s lawsuit but in the meantime.