Okay, with all the attention surrounding the L'Arc world tour news (and even that has been very little lately on this board it would seem), I don't think this will get much attention, but for anyone who is interested and DOES see it...

A topic was made a long while ago which featured various examples of merchandise that looks eerily similar the VAMPS lips logo, but for the most part, the merchandise in question was easy to distinguish and stood out as clearly not VAMPS merchandise but does look like it could be.

HOWEVER, US clothing retailer Charlotte Russe has blurred the line a bit with one of their (I must admit highly fashionable) tops. Don't believe me? Click the link below.

http://www.charlotterusse.com/product/in...d=11959666

Now, of course. You're all probably saying "Oh, it's not exactly the same." Well, the only differences I can see is that the fangs are slightly larger and they added a (rather unnecessary and confusing) blood effect to the side. Other than that, everything down to the blood dripping from the bottom lip is exactly the same.

So, yeah, apparently Charlotte Russe are trademark violators! ... But since VAMPS merchandise that is readily available for purchase overseas is too expensive and usually incredibly bland by comparison to their Japanese counterparts, I'm going to go ahead and say... I approve of this. If I had the money, I'd buy this shirt in a heartbeat.

Still, though, it's weird that it really is the same logo with some very minor alterations here and there.

(10-02-2011, 06:52 PM)VAMPkito Wrote: Okay, with all the attention surrounding the L'Arc world tour news (and even that has been very little lately on this board it would seem), I don't think this will get much attention, but for anyone who is interested and DOES see it...

A topic was made a long while ago which featured various examples of merchandise that looks eerily similar the VAMPS lips logo, but for the most part, the merchandise in question was easy to distinguish and stood out as clearly not VAMPS merchandise but does look like it could be.

HOWEVER, US clothing retailer Charlotte Russe has blurred the line a bit with one of their (I must admit highly fashionable) tops. Don't believe me? Click the link below.

http://www.charlotterusse.com/product/in...d=11959666

Now, of course. You're all probably saying "Oh, it's not exactly the same." Well, the only differences I can see is that the fangs are slightly larger and they added a (rather unnecessary and confusing) blood effect to the side. Other than that, everything down to the blood dripping from the bottom lip is exactly the same.

So, yeah, apparently Charlotte Russe are trademark violators! ... But since VAMPS merchandise that is readily available for purchase overseas is too expensive and usually incredibly bland by comparison to their Japanese counterparts, I'm going to go ahead and say... I approve of this. If I had the money, I'd buy this shirt in a heartbeat.

Still, though, it's weird that it really is the same logo with some very minor alterations here and there.

I agree it is very similiar. However, with a mouth, teeth, fangs, there is only so much you can do for variations. It is pretty.......

The logo of full, red lips with fangs and dripping blood is so classic and iconic that it's occurred to me before, it's not unique enough to make it easy to protect as a trademark, minus the word VAMPS in that bold impact font. In fact, at least once or twice, I've run across an image almost identical, that predates VAMPS, used to advertise something - whether it was music or a movie, I don't recall.

Now, if the Russe graphic or any other were to match the VAMPS logo in distinctive ways, you might be able to make the claim stronger, like, if the ink color or the proportions were to precisely match VAMPS' logo, with just a few changes made, to mask the copy.

One of the things I've always noticed about the VAMPS logo is that the two front teeth are disproportionately wide, and only four top row teeth show, across the entire mouth. In the Russe graphic, the edges of 2 more teeth show.

On one hand, the VAMPS logo has made that image prominent, in the past 3 years, so you might realistically say Russe is unfairly profitting from the image's association with a popular group, thereby violating VAMPS trademark rights (not sure if these are the correct legal terms).

That 'love at first bite' pun is also a rip-off from the title of a vampire movie parody.

On the other hand, the red lips with fangs and blood is not an original concept, and the sexy-but-dangerous vampire theme can be seen being used to sell in lots of places.

I actually agree with this immensely, because I saw a shirt with Mika Nakashima on it at a Charlotte Russe in Manhattan years ago. I'll leave it at that...

(10-02-2011, 08:25 PM)cathb Wrote: I agree it is very similiar. However, with a mouth, teeth, fangs, there is only so much you can do for variations. It is pretty.......

If by very similar, it was copy and pasted with only a few minor alterations made in post. @3@

(10-03-2011, 01:16 AM)Mme. H Wrote: The logo of full, red lips with fangs and dripping blood is so classic and iconic that it's occurred to me before, it's not unique enough to make it easy to protect as a trademark, minus the word VAMPS in that bold impact font. In fact, at least once or twice, I've run across an image almost identical, that predates VAMPS, used to advertise something - whether it was music or a movie, I don't recall.

Now, if the Russe graphic or any other were to match the VAMPS logo in distinctive ways, you might be able to make the claim stronger, like, if the ink color or the proportions were to precisely match VAMPS' logo, with just a few changes made, to mask the copy.

One of the things I've always noticed about the VAMPS logo is that the two front teeth are disproportionately wide, and only four top row teeth show, across the entire mouth. In the Russe graphic, the edges of 2 more teeth show.

On one hand, the VAMPS logo has made that image prominent, in the past 3 years, so you might realistically say Russe is unfairly profitting from the image's association with a popular group, thereby violating VAMPS trademark rights (not sure if these are the correct legal terms).

That 'love at first bite' pun is also a rip-off from the title of a vampire movie parody.

On the other hand, the red lips with fangs and blood is not an original concept, and the sexy-but-dangerous vampire theme can be seen being used to sell in lots of places.

Well, like I said. Looks almost PRECISELY the same, at least to me. The blood effect is in the same location with the same physics and everything. Granted, they did do some sort of PhotoShop job to make it look slightly more their own. I understand that a lot there are a lot of lips-with-fangs-and-blood-on-the-bottom images, but usually they're stylized in the artists' own unique fashion, whilst this looks like a near blatant copy-and-paste job with some alterations here and there.

(10-19-2011, 01:47 PM)chandelierswing Wrote: I actually agree with this immensely, because I saw a shirt with Mika Nakashima on it at a Charlotte Russe in Manhattan years ago. I'll leave it at that...

I would like to have been around to see that. :c