As Kanye West looks to expand his Yeezy empire, he may have his hands full with an inconvenient legal battle.
According to TMZ, new legal documents suggest that a China-based company listed as Fujian Baby Network Technology Co. has filed trademark paperwork for the term "Yeezy Boost" for its own clothing products. West has owned the name for his footwear line since 2013, but inexplicably abandoned the trademark for anything other than shoes in 2017. Sensing an opportunity to profit, Fujian Baby Network Technology moved in immediately and claimed the name for itself.
TMZ notes that West has refiled for the trademark for clothing, but was denied by the trademark office. It doesn't appear that this oversight will have any bearing on his ability to sell sneakers and probably won't matter much otherwise, unless West starts lining clothing with Boost material. However, the door is open for another entity to profit off his name and work, especially considering China's unique perspective on trademark and intellectual property laws. Michael Jordan and his Jordan Brand have been locked in legal warfare with Chinese knockoff company Qiaodan since 2012 over what one would assume is a very blatant infringement case.
UPDATE (03/22): According to The Fashion Law, the specifics behind West's trademark hiccups aren't quite as problematic as TMZ originally reported. While it is true that West's August 2017 application for a "Yeezy" trademark specifically on clothing has been halted, it hasn't been denied altogether.
Instead, Fujian Baby's "Yeezy" patent application—filed in June 2017—was actually the one that was denied, and the pending result of that ruling is what has caused West's legitimate patent application to be suspended. In a September letter, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office wrote that Fujian Baby's application for "Yeezy Boost" conflicted with West's already-established Yeezy trademark and an unrelated trademark filed by a company called Boost Worldwide, Inc.
It's also worth mentioning that unlike China's laws, being the first to file for a trademark in the U.S. does not make a difference, and the trademark must instead be put to use in order to gain exclusive rights.
