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French agency Rémy Cointreau has launched a lawsuit towards the Cognac model owned by rapper 50 Cent for allegedly infringing on the trademark of its Rémy Martin XO bottle.
E Rémy Martin & Co has filed a criticism towards Sire Spirits, Vetro and VSPA, in New York. Sire Spirits is owned by 50 Cent, actual title Curtis J Jackson III, and produces the Branson Cognac model.
In line with the case submitting, the Cognac maker mentioned Sire Spirits had ‘wilfully and blatantly designed their bottle to unfairly capitalise on the goodwill and fame’ of its Rémy bottle mark.
Jackson filed a US trademark for his Branson bottle in February final yr. Rémy Martin mentioned the bottle would create a probability of shopper confusion on account of their ‘stark similarities’.
Rémy Martin is the world’s second biggest-selling Cognac, after LVMH-owned Hennessy, in response to Brand Champions data. It bought 2.3 million nine-litre circumstances in 2020.
The XO Cognac was based three many years in the past and has been bought in a toroidal-shaped bottle since 1985, the lawsuit mentioned. The corporate owns a number of US emblems for the bottle, with the oldest one originating in 1986. 1 / 4 of its gross sales come from the States.
The lawsuit additionally pointed to the model’s social media following within the US – on Fb Rémy Martin has greater than 2.6m followers. The corporate mentioned it had spent US$15m selling the XO during the last 5 years.
As such, the lawsuit famous that the Rémy bottle is ‘distinctive, has change into well-known, and, certainly, well-known, to the commerce and members of the buying public’.
Moreover, the French agency mentioned shoppers have famous the similarities between the bottles on social media.
Rémy Martin additionally argued that the Branson bottle is a ‘close to actual copy’ of the model’s Centaure de Diamant bottle, launched as a ‘one-of-a-kind’ bottle design in 2010.
The French agency is in search of injunctive aid and financial damages.
Rémy Cointreau mentioned the group ‘doesn’t touch upon pending litigation’.
Sire Spirits is but to reply to a request for remark.
The rapper took to Instagram to deal with the lawsuit final week. He wrote: “They’re afraid of me already. Branson Cognac is the brand new wave. Remy is #2 behind Henny and apprehensive about Branson Smh I’m simply getting began.”
Final month, Rémy Cointreau sued Canopy Growth for alleged trademark infringement over the hashish firm’s CBD-infused glowing water model Quatreau.