Walmart has officially filed a trademark dispute against Kanye West over his Yeezy brand, claiming the similarity between the companies' logos "is likely to cause confusion and lead to consumer deception."
The New York Post reports that Walmart filed an objection with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on April 21, alleging that West's logo — described in a patent filing as "rays from a sun" — shares a similar look to the retailer's own stylized sun logo, which the company has used for 13 years.
West's design — for which he filed a patent in January 2020 — consists of eight lines made up of three dots each that emerge from a circle to form "rays," according to legal papers viewed by the Post.
You can compare the two designs for yourself above.
West's filing notes that the design may be used in conjunction with music and audio-visual recordings, sneakers, underwear, T-shirts, furniture, modular homes and even hotel services.
Walmart argues that even though its logo's rays were designed using lines to form individual shapes, the potential approval of the Yeezy LLC mark will create "confusion" and a "false suggestion of a connection" between the two.
The retailer also took issue with the possibility of West using the mark for aforementioned entertainment purposes, pointing to Walmart's history of "products and...marketing campaigns in association with Jennifer Garner, the cast of Queer Eye, Drew Barrymore, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Ellen DeGeneres, and Sofia Vergara to name a few."
In a statement to the Post, Walmart shared that it has "repeatedly sought to understand Yeezy's planned use of the Yeezy Application, with the goal of finding ways in which the Walmart Spark Design and the Yeezy Application can co-exist with one another," though efforts to settle have gone nowhere.
Earlier this month, West filed a separate logo trademark application for his "accessible" clothing line with Gap, which features "YZY" replacing the brand's recognizable three-letter mark. It has yet to be approved.
The New York Post reports that Walmart filed an objection with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on April 21, alleging that West's logo — described in a patent filing as "rays from a sun" — shares a similar look to the retailer's own stylized sun logo, which the company has used for 13 years.
West's design — for which he filed a patent in January 2020 — consists of eight lines made up of three dots each that emerge from a circle to form "rays," according to legal papers viewed by the Post.
You can compare the two designs for yourself above.
West's filing notes that the design may be used in conjunction with music and audio-visual recordings, sneakers, underwear, T-shirts, furniture, modular homes and even hotel services.
Walmart argues that even though its logo's rays were designed using lines to form individual shapes, the potential approval of the Yeezy LLC mark will create "confusion" and a "false suggestion of a connection" between the two.
The retailer also took issue with the possibility of West using the mark for aforementioned entertainment purposes, pointing to Walmart's history of "products and...marketing campaigns in association with Jennifer Garner, the cast of Queer Eye, Drew Barrymore, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Ellen DeGeneres, and Sofia Vergara to name a few."
In a statement to the Post, Walmart shared that it has "repeatedly sought to understand Yeezy's planned use of the Yeezy Application, with the goal of finding ways in which the Walmart Spark Design and the Yeezy Application can co-exist with one another," though efforts to settle have gone nowhere.
Earlier this month, West filed a separate logo trademark application for his "accessible" clothing line with Gap, which features "YZY" replacing the brand's recognizable three-letter mark. It has yet to be approved.