Lululemon trademarks ‘Lululemon Dupe’ in US, in latest look-alike action
The Internet May Love Lululemon’s Athleisure Replicas – OdourThe Vancouver-based company certainly doesn’t.
According to the US, Lululemon has secured a trademark for the phrase “Lululemon Dupe” in the US. Patent and Trademark Office DocumentsIt was awarded on October 21 after the athleisure company first applied for it in December 2024.
The trademark applies to advertising, marketing and retail services (both in stores and online) – and means only Lululemon can use the phrase to market products.
As of Friday, no similar trademark filings had been filed On the Canadian Trademark Database,
The move is a “very creative enforcement” technique to protect Lululemon. myself fr“Om deceives,” says Susan Scafidi, founder of the nonprofit Fashion Law Institute and a professor at Fordham University School of Law in New York.
Duplicates, short for duplicate, are products that look like a popular brand name, but are sold at a lower price. Unlike “counterfeit” or “knock-off,” Scafidi says the term “dupe” doesn’t have the same negative connotations that have made brands worried about these products eating into their market share.
Now that Lululemon owns the phrase “Lululemon Dupe,” Scafidi says others who use it for commercial activity like advertising or marketing could get into trouble down the line — though what the company can enforce is fairly narrow.
“It’s not about the product. It’s really just about that language.”
Scafidi says this may apply to the impactCRS who are making money from their fake promotions Or other marketers online using the phrase. There are thousands of posts on TikTok alone use hashtags To show similar looking clothes.
brand sProducts that look like Ealing Lululemon do not necessarily use this phrase in their product listings. bThey could still get in trouble if they use the phrase in back-end information like metadata, which will make their product come up when people search for Lululemon dupes online, says Ashley Froese, a Toronto-based fashion and branding lawyer.
The details of a trademark may be less important, says Daniel Tsai, a professor of business and law at the University of Toronto and Canada West University.
Sometimes owning the trademark is enough so “the other person gives up and walks away from it, stops selling the product.”
Scafidi also indicateExplain what US trademark law requiresCompanies have to use the trademark to keep it—which means Lululemon has to use the phrase in some way.
“My guess is … they’re probably going to create some kind of campaign or maybe activation or pop-up around the idea of the dupe,” Scafidi said.
Lululemon did not respond to CBC’s request for comment at the time of publication.
Lulu’s latest attempt to cheat
Scafidi says Lululemon has long been one of the most creative companies when it comes to protecting its brand.
Scafidi said the company “pioneered” in using design patents, which can be used to protect certain decorative elements of a product, to protect some of their clothing designs. In 2023, Lululemon held a “duplicate swap” in Los Angeles, where it allowed people who had purchased knock-offs of its popular Align pants to exchange them. trade them for originals Lululemon Edition.
Is cheating a good or bad thing? We’re analyzing why the cute-looking items at Giant Tiger are still legal, but also examining lawsuits filed by brands like Lululemon and Pop Mart against other stores. Are you shopping for cheap lookalikes, or saving up for real-deal brands?
Nikki Neuberger, chief brand officer of Lululemon, said, “We saw it as a fun way to play up something that’s a real part of our culture, but in a way that really focuses on the core.” told CNN Business In those days.
lululemon too Costco sued Earlier this year for selling alleged imitations of several of his clothesEMS, including its hugely popular scuba hoodies and sweatshirts, Define Jackets and ABC Pants. it Settled lawsuit with Peloton in 2022 on similar charges.
Froese says it’s possible that other companies may try to do the same and trademark the word “dupe” along with their name.
For one, Aritzia has already filed a trademark application in America and in canada in March for the phrase “Aritzia Dupe”, although it is still under investigation in both countries.
She says brand will We must continue to evolve to find new ways to protect our intellectual property as copycat products are an inevitability.
“It will always be a cat-and-mouse situation.”
