Plagiarism Or Reference? BELLE International And Hai Lan'S Home Are Trapped In "Plagiarizing Door".

Recently, luxury brand Louis Vuitton filed a lawsuit against BELLE, China's footwear giant, accusing BELLE of plagiarizing its sports shoes.

This is the first plagiarism lawsuit initiated by LouisVuitton in China in the past 3 years.

Coincidentally, another Chinese clothing giant Hai Lan's home was also sent to search for plagiarism (BELLE announced the delisting of CEO Sheng Bai pepper personal data and prestige background).

LV BELLE is 11 times the same price for the same type of shoes.

Louis Vuitton accused BELLE international and its Best AbleFootwear Lizhong Shoes Co., Ltd. that their shoes design in the 2018 spring summer series is very similar to that of Archlight sports shoes.

LouisVuitton stressed that they started selling Archlight sports shoes in February 2018, priced at $1090, or about 7300 yuan, which is the owner of the global design trademark copyright, while the defendants' suspected plagiarism shoes were only put on shelves in July 24, 2018 at a price of only 598 yuan, and the price difference between them was 11 times.

As the two defendants were incorporated in Hongkong, China, Louis Vuitton requested the intellectual property court of Hongkong to permanently prohibit BELLE's international sales related footwear and destroy it, and make compensation at the same time.

Public information shows that BELLE international was founded in 1991, in addition to having 12 own footwear brands, but also agents Nike, Adidas, PUMA, Converse and other sports brand distribution business.

As of February 2017, BELLE had more than 2 direct outlets in China, including 7654 sportswear shops.

In 2007, BELLE international listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Its market value was more than HK $140 billion.

But over the next 10 years, the apparel retailer experienced a rapid expansion to a declining performance.

In April 2017, BELLE international accepted the offer from purchasers such as Gao Ling capital and CDH investment to complete the privatization of Hong Kong stock at a total price of HK $45 billion 300 million, which created the largest privatization deal in the history of HKEx.

It is worth mentioning that LVMH, the parent company of LouisVuitton, was the cornerstone investor of BELLE international. In 2007, it subscribed $30 million worth of BELLE international stock, when BELLE international financing amounted to US $1 billion 100 million, which was able to expand rapidly at 1000 annual stores.

The new express reporter couldn't find a similar style to Archlight sports shoes at BELLE's solid counters and Tmall flagship stores in Guangzhou. The salesperson said that the shoe style was last year's style and is now off shelves.

However, the reporter found that there are also many "bumping money" in the spring and summer new models, such as a black and beige Baotou sandals, which resemble CHANEL, while the other Muller shoes with gold buckles are very similar to those of GUCCI classic shoes.

Hai Lan's home research and development cost doubled, still trapped in "plagiarizing door".

In the fashion industry driven by creativity, the LouisVuitton prosecution of BELLE international plagiarism is only "tip of the iceberg".

Shenzhen Chao Mao ROARINGWILD public issue issued a title entitled "plagiarism is an art, sea lane home envy" article, pointed out that the sea LAN family's tide card "HLAJEANS" plagiarized its 2018 spring and summer old money, and as a 2019 year sales, and issued a comparative map.

OVV, another lightweight luxury clothing brand of Hai Lan's home, has been accused of openly copying H&M, Tibi and HelmutLang.

Up to now, Hai Lan's home has not responded to plagiarism, but its annual report has stressed that the company is "independent research and development".

Hai Lan's home 2018 report shows that the R & D cost of the company is 49 million 20 thousand yuan, which has increased by more than 90% over 2017.

In response to this huge increase, the company said the increase was mainly due to the increase of new brands.

Prior to the annual shareholders' meeting at Hai Lan's home, there were small shareholders questioning the designer's strength, but Zhou Jianping was "angry". "If the revenue does not exceed Hai Lan, it will not qualify us to question us!"

Coincidentally, Lv Yan, a well-known model and designer, sent a letter to micro-blog in Shenzhen in late April, and asked the other party to stop copying.

And the other side issued a public statement that clothing creative research and development from the fashion trend, accused of plagiarism without legal basis.

At the same time, Lv Yan's works were also suspected of plagiarism, including AlexanderMcQueen, Valentino and other international brands.

Experts say

Plagiarism in the fashion world has always been difficult to identify.

Insiders pointed out that with the rapid change of fashion trend, the distinction between "borrowing" and "plagiarism" is becoming more and more difficult to distinguish.

"Every brand will produce a large number of different single products every quarter. It is unrealistic to apply for patents for every single product."

And a small design change can be said to be another design, and a longer time to apply for a patent, clothing design and release time has a cycle, which is why many brands dare to "learn", but it is difficult to blame.

Taking the world's largest fast fashion group ZARA as an example, since its establishment in 1975, it has been receiving various complaints and property rights lawsuits from the fashion industry, but it has been repeatedly released until last year. In July 11, 2018, it took 3 years. The Diesel, the parent company of Italy cowboy fashion brand Diesel (group OnlyTheBrave), sued the case of ZARA's parent company Inditex's plagiarism Diesel Skinzee-SP jeans and Marni sandals design case, and OTB won the lawsuit. The Milan court of Italy finally sentenced the "plagiarism" to be established and sentenced to 200 yuan for each product.