Kanye West may be preparing for a lengthy legal battle if a Chinese company is able to take ownership of the trademark covering the clothing side branch of the Yeezy brand.
TMZ reports that West may lose ownership of the trademarked name he created to a Chinese tech company due to a clerical oversight. In other words, missing the trademark renewal date.
According to new legal docs — obtained by TMZ — Kanye’s company was outmaneuvered by a Chinese company that swooped in and filed trademark paperwork in an effort to stake its claim to the popular Yeezy brand name.
Kanye’s company has owned the name Yeezy for footwear since 2013, but for whatever reason abandoned the trademark for other clothing items besides shoes in 2017. The Chinese company — listed as Fujian Baby Network Technology Co. — seized the opportunity by immediately filing trademark paperwork for the term “Yeezy Boost” for its clothing products.
The rapper’s company then refiled its application for Yeezy clothing, but the trademark office said not so fast … because the Chinese company now has dibs.
Fortunately for West, the trademark dispute doesn’t affect his ability to make Yeezy sneakers but if you were pining for everything his wife Kim Kardashian West has been wearing lately, you may have to wait for a while. In addition to the trademark name dispute, Uproxx reported that West is being sued by Jordan Outdoor Enterprises Ltd. for copying “distinctive markings” that appear on Realtree’s camouflage apparel.
