Walmart has filed a complaint to the US Patent and Trademark Office, claiming a proposed logo design for Kanye West’s Yeezy brand looks too much like the retail’s own logo.
Kanye West’s new logo described in patent paperwork as “rays from a sun” looks too similar. The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer last week filed an objection with the US Patent and Trademark Office over a design the entertainer filed for West’s Yeezy LLC in January 2020. In its complaint, filed last week and reported Tuesday by Bloomberg, Walmart argued that Yeezy’s proposed design “is likely to cause confusion, mistake and deception” among consumers, potentially causing them to mistakenly associate Yeezy’s products with Walmart.
Yeezy’s proposed logo consists of eight three-dot spokes radiating outward in a star-like pattern. Walmart’s logo, which the company has used since 2007, has six solid spokes with rounded ends.
Walmart even took issue with the singer’s plans to use the mark for entertainment purposes, claiming that Walmart “has sold products and done marketing campaigns in association with Jennifer Garner, the cast of Queer Eye, Drew Barrymore, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Ellen DeGeneres, and Sofia Vergara to name a few.”
West has been busy filing trademarks of late, including a YZY logo for his Gap collection, which has white letters and is surrounded by a blue box that looks similar to The Gap’s logo. Yeezy signed a deal with Gap last year to design a line of clothing for the retailer.
The YZY logo, which was filed earlier this month, has not been approved.
