The Internet Might Love Lululemon's Athleisure Hoax – thisThe Vancouver company certainly doesn't do that.
Lululemon has registered a trademark for the phrase “Lululemon dupe” in the United States, according to the US. Documents from the Patent and Trademark Office. The award was presented on October 21 after the sports company first applied for it in December 2024.
The trademark applies to advertising, marketing and retail services (both in-store and online) – meaning that only Lululemon can use the phrase to market products.
As of Friday, no such trademark applications had been filed. in the Canadian Trademark Database.
The move is a “very creative” move on Lululemon's part to protect I'm from France.“Oh, the liars,” says Susan Scafidi, founder of the nonprofit Fashion Law Institute and a professor at Fordham University School of Law in New York.
Dupes, short for duplicates, are products that look like name brands but sell for less. Unlike “knockoffs” or “knockoffs,” Scafidi says the word “cheat” doesn't have the same negative connotations, which is why brands are concerned about these products eating into their market share.
Now that Lululemon owns the phrase “Lululemon dupe,” Scafidi says others using it for commercial activities such as advertising or marketing could face problems in the future—though what the company can provide is fairly narrow.
“It’s not about the product, it’s about the language.”
Scafidi says it could be related to the fluSers who make money from their promotions or other marketers using this phrase online. There are thousands of posts on TikTok alone use hashtag to show off similar clothing.
Brands withWhen talking about products similar to Lululemon, this phrase is not necessarily used in product listings. BBut they could still get into trouble if they use the phrase in server-side information, such as the metadata that shows their product when people search online for Lululemon scams, says Ashley Frose, a Toronto-based fashion and branding lawyer.
The details of a trademark may be less important, says Daniel Tsai, a professor of business and law at the University of Toronto and the University of Western Canada.
Sometimes owning a trademark is enough for “the other guy to give up and move on from selling the product.”
Scafidi also indicateIt turns out that US trademark law requiresThe S companies will use the trademark to keep it – meaning Lululemon will have to use the phrase itself somehow.
“My guess is… they're probably going to build some kind of campaign or maybe activations or pop-ups around the idea of deception,” Scafidi said.
Lululemon did not respond to CBC's request for comment by the time of publication.
Lulu's last attempt to fight deception
Scafidi says Lululemon has long been one of the most creative companies when it comes to protecting its brand.
The company has “taken the lead” in using design patents, which can be used to protect certain decorative elements of a product, as well as to protect certain clothing designs, Scafidi said. In 2023, Lululemon held a “cheater swap” in Los Angeles, where it allowed people who bought copies of its popular Align pants to exchange them for the original Lululemon version.
Are duplicates good or bad? We look into why the cheap beauty lookalikes at Giant Tiger are still legal, and look into the lawsuits brands like Lululemon and Pop Mart have filed against other stores. Do you buy cheap analogues or save on real brands?
“We saw this as a really fun way to play something that is a real part of our culture, but in a way that really brought the focus back to the original,” Lululemon chief brand officer Nikki Neuburger. told CNN Business at that time.
Lululemon also sued Costco earlier this year for selling suspected counterfeits of a range of its clothing.ems, including the wildly popular Scuba hoodies and sweatshirts, Define jackets and ABC pants. This settled lawsuit with Peloton in 2022 on a similar charge.
Froese says it's possible other companies will try to do the same and trademark their name and the word “hoax.”
Aritzia, for example, has already filed a trademark application. in the USA and in Canada in March for the phrase “Aritzia dupe”, although it is still under review in both countries.
She says brands will must continue to evolve to find new ways to protect their intellectual property as product imitation is inevitable.
“It's always going to be a cat and mouse situation.”
