Ferrari is a brand known for luxury, and so they’ve got several fans worldwide who likes the luxurious taste. However, the automobile brand disliked the recent act of a German fashion designer, Philipp Plein with its Italian luxury cars. In a series of Instagram posts this week, Plein claims that Ferrari is threatening to sue him because he posted images of his sneakers on the hood of his own personal supercar. Ferrari says Plein’s behavior “tarnishes the reputation of Ferrari’s brands and causes Ferrari further material damage.”
Ferrari sent an official letter to Plein to claim that he is using Ferrari’s trademarks for the “promotional purposes” of increasing his own brand and products’ visibility. Just so we’ll know, the cars used in this picture belong to Plein’s. Ferrari is essentially claiming that Plein is harnessing its iconic imagery to bolster his own brand and also denigrate Ferrari’s.
At the time of this publication, the pictures in question are yet to be deleted as requested by the car brand in their official letter sent to the designer. The letter indicated that the designer would be given 48 hours to respond appropriately, and obviously he didn’t.
Checking up on Plein, he is calling the letter “blackmail,” and has furthermore asked his followers to send photos of his shoes on top of their luxury cars. He even made a slideshow of what some of his 1.8 million followers sent. Plein’s stand against the luxury car brand isn’t just about his shoe brand and the Italian carmaker, but as he wrote, “This is a fight for our right to post on our private social media accounts whatever we decide (as long as it does not cause any harm to anybody).
Checking up on Ferrari’s possible lawsuit, The Fashion Law reports that Ferrari could potentially build a sound argument. “Just as in the US, the holder of a registered trademark in Italy has the right to prevent third parties from using identical or similar trademarks for identical or similar products or services,” TFL writes. “Given the positioning of Plein’s footwear in the photo – i.e., right next to the Ferrari logos, and with the coordinating colors in mind, consumers might be led to believe that the two brands are working in collaboration for Plein’s footwear collection or are otherwise affiliated in some way, which would give rise to merited claims of trademark infringement.”
However in a comment to Bloomberg, Carmine Rotondaro, an independent legal adviser to Plein, called Ferrari’s accusations “totally baseless.” It’s unclear whether Ferrari is following through with its plans to file the lawsuit, but we’ve reached out to the company for comment and will update if we hear back.
