London fashion law firm Crefovi is delighted to bring you this law of luxury goods & fashion blog, in order to provide you with forward-thinking and insightful information on the business and legal issues for the fashion and luxury sectors.
This law of luxury goods & fashion blog provides regular news and updates, and features summaries of recent news reports, on legal issues facing the global fashion and luxury community, in particular in the United Kingdom and France. This law of luxury goods & fashion blog also provides timely updates and commentary on legal issues in the retail and consumer goods sectors. It is curated by the fashion lawyers of our law firm, who specialise in advising our ‟Consumer goods & retail” clients in London, Paris and internationally on all their legal issues.
Crefovi has been practising the law of luxury goods & fashion law since 2003, in London, Paris and internationally. Crefovi advises a wide range of clients, from young fashion entrepreneurs in search of financing and legal advice to manager their contractual and intellectual property issues, to mature luxury houses in need of legal advice to negotiate and finalise licensing or distribution agreements and/or to enforce their intellectual property rights. Crefovi writes and curates this law of luxury goods & fashion law blog to guide its clients through the complexities of fashion & luxury law.
Annabelle Gauberti, founding and managing partner of Crefovi, is one of the founders of the ‟fashion law” practice area, in Europe. She regularly lectures on the law of luxury goods & fashion at the Institut de la Recherche sur la Propriété Intellectuelle (IRPI), as well as to the Master and MBA students enrolled in HEC Luxury Certificate and to the students of the top master Luxury, Innovation & Design of the University Marnes la Vallée. These courses and lectures are an important testimony to the recognition of the legal discipline that is the law of luxury goods & fashion.
Moreover, Crefovi has industry teams, built by experienced lawyers with a wide range of practice and geographic backgrounds. These industry teams apply their extensive industry expertise to best serve clients’ business needs. One of the industry teams is the Consumer products & retail department, which curates this law of luxury goods & fashion law blog below for you.
Crefovi regularly updates its social media channels, such as Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. Check our latest news there!
PUBLIC RESPONSE / RIGHT OF REPLY – The Paris Bar’s account is not the whole story: my response, and the documentary record behind it
Annabelle Gauberti and Crefovi exercise their right of reply to the Paris Bar, publishing a redacted defence statement and 226-annex record after four disciplinary proceedings.
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Crefovi files competition law complaints against the Paris bar
Annabelle Gauberti and Crefovi file competition law complaints against the Paris bar (‟ordre des avocats à la cour de Paris”) before the European Commission and the French Competition authority
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Post-Brexit regulatory bias: Crefovi SELAS denounces the SRA and Law Society for unlawful retaliation and discrimination
Crefovi SELAS today publicly denounces the ongoing campaign of retaliation, procedural abuse, and discriminatory treatment directed at its founder and managing partner, Annabelle Gauberti, Solicitor of England & Wales and avocat à la Cour (Paris Bar), by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the Law Society of England & Wales.
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Fashion modelling law in 2025: France, the UK, and the US (NYC & LA)
Fashion modelling may project glamour, but behind the runway lies a tangle of labour law, tax regimes, union structures, and image rights that differ sharply between France, the UK, and the US. This article traces how modelling became a profession, & what fashion modelling law entails: it examines the employment and tax status of models, reviews the collective agreements and trade bodies that shape their work, and analyses how contracts and publicity rights regulate the use of their image — before turning to the disruptive impact of AI, which now threatens to redefine the very future of modelling. Let's dive...
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Curbing anti-competitive conduct in UK labour markets: recent CMA enforcement in creative and service industries
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (‟CMA”) is making it abundantly clear that anti-competitive conduct in labour markets is not only within its enforcement remit, but a strategic priority. Following its 2023 publication of guidance and initiation of several high-profile investigations, we now have clearer signals of how the regulator is tackling collusion in freelance-heavy and service-based sectors. This article follows up on Crefovi's earlier analysis ‟Competition law & labour markets: the CMA springs into action” and provides an update on three key cases, as well as practical takeaways for UK employers.
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Christian Louboutin & the law: a shoe designer’s fairytale paved with lawful lessons
Christian Louboutin & the law is a love relationship which has flourished over the course of time. Let's explore how Christian Louboutin and his management team used legal tools to enforce their intellectual property rights around the world, one country at a time, creating some long-lasting precedents and caselaws along the way. While Christian Louboutin doesn't do publicity and advertisements, his fierce protection & enforcement tactics of his creative assets and rights have made him renowned in fashion law as one of the most sophisticated business people when it comes to using the law to his advantage. His luxury shoes...
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Naomi Campbell v MGN Ltd: towards the recognition of a right to privacy under English law?
Naomi Campbell, the British model who rose to fame in the 1990s as one of six models of her generation declared supermodels, is currently being celebrated at the Victoria & Albert Museum in a delightful temporary exhibition entitled ‟Naomi in fashion”. It is therefore the right time to delve into the most famous litigation case in which Ms Campbell was involved in (no, not that one where she allegedly tossed a mobile phone at her maid and was consequently sentenced to five days’ community service and ordered to attend an anger management course). What we want to get our teeth...
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Competition law & labour markets: the CMA springs into action
Competition law in labour markets is a hot topic for many competition bodies around the world and, in particular, the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority. The CMA has lately sprung into action, in order to research, investigate and, ultimately, decide, whether the majority of UK's labour markets lack competition due to no-poach agreements, salary-fixing agreements and other anticompetitive tactics used by UK employers. In this era of thrift and savings, generated by the recession caused by the management of the Covid 19 pandemic, and then the inflation ballooning in the aftermath of the Russia/Ukraine war, the CMA is particularly...
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Digital Services Act: the revolution will be televised
The Digital Services Act is upon us and, with its bestie the Digital Markets Act, promises to force powerful changes in the digital ecosystem currently in place in the European Union and, even globally. The power is shifting back to the people, with the Digital Services Act, and intermediary service providers better listen to their complaints about unclear and cunning terms and conditions of service, their takedown notices for illegal content, products and services, as well as their concerns about bullying, breach of free speech, unfair targeting of minors, minorities, etc. Otherwise, the European Commission and national Digital Services Coordinators...
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Farfetch: anatomy of a fall
Farfetch was a lovely entrepreneurial adventure launched 16 years' ago by thirty-something Jose Neves, but will probably not pass the test of time, in its current iteration. Let's analyse what and who drove Farfetch, and how Farfetch was driven, into the ground, in less than 5 years. We all need to hear cautionary tales, and the Farfetch story definitely fits into this category. Future fashion entrepreneurs, saddle up!
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Pharrell Williams & Louis Vuitton: the era of entertainment stars appointed as creative directors has begun
Pharrell Williams & Louis Vuitton are getting into bed together. This is exciting as it is the first time a fully-fledged entertainment star takes the helm at one of the most prestigious luxury brands worldwide, as its creative director. While musician Kanye West had already broken ground, at sportswear firm Adidas, in his role as artistic director of the uber-successful Yeezy brand, no luxury conglomerate had had the balls to appoint a celebrity as creative director of one of its crown's jewels. Well, ‟Monsieur Arnault”, eternally the groundbreaker, has reached new ground, by doing exactly that at Louis Vuitton, with...
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John Lobb Ltd v John Lobb SAS: a disconcerting attempt to void a contract for common mistake
I was always intrigued by the way John Lobb, the superb footwear brand, managed its affairs between Paris, France, and London, United Kingdom. Well, now, I know, thanks to my exhaustive review and analysis of the England and Wales High Court (Chancery division) decision dated 8 September 2022, on whether the agreement bounding the French business, John Lobb SAS, to the British business, John Lobb Limited, was void under the case law of common mistake. Was it a good call for John Lobb Ltd to pull such a claim? Did John Lobb Ltd gain anything out of this public exposure,...
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How Chanel kissed goodbye to France and fully embraced the United Kingdom, for tax reasons
In the background, far from grabbing headlines and the limelights, the shareholders of Chanel, the Wertheimer family, have relentlessly restructured and reorganised the Chanel business, since Brexit. Sensing a massive tax opportunity, Chanel has completed its Frexit in September 2022, kissing goodbye to the nosy and invasive strategies and idiosyncrasies of the French tax administration and control systems. The United Kingdom, and in particular London, is reaffirming its position as a tax haven for the rich and powerful, post Brexit, while France has lost one of its crown jewels, and does not even understand its massive financial loss, blinded by...
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University of Massachusetts v L’Oréal: a patent infringement claim turns into a disaster for global cosmetics behemoth
This 20 year old legal saga turns into a public relations and legal nightmare for the L'Oréal group, which karma is decidedly being tarnished by its bullying, deceptive and ongoing strategies to illegally lift patented technologies licensed to someone else, and to then convince a first degree judge that the lawful licensee's ensuing legal claims should be dismissed on futile procedural grounds. No matter how eccentric or weak the licensee may have appeared to L'Oréal, the cosmetics giant should have resisted these vain attempts to muddy the waters with respect to its actual liability in infringing those patents, and should...
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Exhaustion of rights: how to capitalise on UK’s intellectual property rights and parallel imports, post-Brexit
While the London Book Fair is back in full swing, which is a pleasant sight since the fair was cancelled in 2020 and only held online in 2021, I was reminded, yesterday, of the seminar I attended, on 10 March 2022, on ‟exhaustion of rights and downstream uses”, organised by the British Literary and Artistic Copyright Association (‟BLACA”). The presentations made by the speakers during this seminar, and in particular by Catriona Stevenson, general counsel of the book publishing trade body Publishers Association, gave me cause for concern. While I could not pinpoint exactly why their arguments on the best...
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How to sell your US fashion products in Europe, at high margins?
In the globalisation age, fashion and luxury brands aspire to doing business everywhere, servicing their retail clients on each continent. Yet, trade and geographical barriers are still in place, and even increased during the inward-looking Trump era, in the US, and Brexit transition, in the UK, making smooth and seamless fashion and luxury purchase transactions a challenge. So, what is the best approach, in the post-COVID, post-Trump, and post-Brexit world, to sell your fashion and luxury wares around the world, while making high margins?
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How to enforce civil and commercial judgments after Brexit?
As explained in our two previous articles relating to Brexit, ‟How to protect your creative business after Brexit?” and ‟Brexit legal implications: the road less travelled”, the European Union (‟EU”) regulations and conventions on the jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, ceased to apply in the United Kingdom (‟UK”) once it no longer was a EU member-state. Therefore, since 1 January 2021 (the ‟Transition date”), no clear enforcement system is in place, to enforce a UK civil or commercial judgment in a EU member-state, and vice-versa. Creative businesses now have to rely on...
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How to remedy a breach of licence which term is overran?
In the creative industries, many intellectual property rights, such as copyright, trademarks, registered designs and patents are subjected to licenses, in order for right owners and creators to monetize such rights. However, things do not always go smoothly during and after the term of the licensing agreement, between the licensor and the licensee. Therefore, what are the remedies that the licensor may put in place, in order to ensure that his or her intellectual property rights are fairly monetised? How to remedy a breach of license which term is overran?
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Cancel culture: how the creative industries should ride out the storm
Cancel culture is upon us. This is what we are currently being told by British and French mass media, who have finally caught up with the content of the latest, and first non-fictional, book ever published by acclaimed, yet heavily criticised, American author Bret Easton Ellis, ‟White”. The polemic rages on both sides of the pond, ignited by more than 150 public figures signing a controversial letter denouncing cancel culture. So, what's going on? What is ‟cancel culture”? Why should you pay attention to, and be cautious about it, as a creative professional? Is this even a thing in Europe...
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Fashion law in France: a 2020 overview
Since its inception in 2003, the law of luxury goods and fashion law have evolved, matured, and become institutionalised as a standalone area of specialisation in the legal profession. Here is Crefovi's 2020 status update for fashion law in France, detailing each legal practice area relevant to such creative industry.
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Why the valuation of intangible assets matters: the unstoppable rise of intangibles’ reporting in the 21st century’s corporate environment
It is high time France and the UK up their game in terms of accounting for, reporting and leveraging the intangible assets owned by their national businesses and companies, while Asia and the US currently lead the race, here. European lenders need to do their bit, too, to empower creative and innovative SMEs, and provide them with adequate financing to sustain their growth and ambitions, by way of intangible assets backed-lending.
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Law of luxury and fashion marketing: how to secure your practices
Crefovi partners up with Les Echos Formation to present cutting-edge one-day training on the law of luxury and fashion marketing: how to secure your practices?
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How to make your fashion brand lawfully omnichannel?
Crefovi strikes back with presentation on how to make your fashion brand lawfully omnichannel at Pure trade show on 26 July 2016, attended by trade show goers and press.
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Crefovi is a speaker during MonteCarlo Fashion Week 2016
On 2 June 2016, Annabelle Gauberti, founding and managing partner of London luxury law firm Crefovi, was invited to present a talk on ‟How to make your fashion brands lawfully omnichannel” during the MonteCarlo Fashion Week in Monaco.
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Luxury and intellectual property: one-day course in Paris
On 10 March 2016, Annabelle Gauberti, founding partner of London law firm for the creative industries Crefovi, will organise and present a day course on ‟Luxury & intellectual property” in Paris, at the prestigious French research institute in intellectual property IRPI.
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ialci and Tranoï become official partners for 2016 trade shows worldwide
ialci, the international association of lawyers for creative industries, and Tranoï, fashion and luxury trade shows' organiser and platform, partner up on all trade shows for 2016 worldwide.
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IPKat 2015 conference on intellectual property in the fashion industry
Crefovi joins the IPKat 2015 conference on intellectual property in the fashion industry: tailored advice from experts, such as Annabelle Gauberti, in the world of IP law and fashion.
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Crefovi to partner up with Tranoi during NYC trade show
Crefovi to partner up with Tranoi and, as such, will provide legal services to exhibitors and visitors during Tranoi NYC trade show at the Tunnel, Chelsea, from 18 to 20 September 2015.
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Crefovi ranked luxury expert by Chambers
London fashion law firm Crefovi is recommended as a top expert in the industrial sector luxury & fashion by the guide Chambers & Partners: we reached another milestone! Crefovi ranked luxury goods expert by Chambers.
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Luxury & intellectual property: one-day course in London
On 21 April 2015, Annabelle Gauberti, founding and managing partner of London law firm for the creative industries Crefovi, will organise and present a one-day course on ‟Luxury & intellectual property” in London, which will be the exact replica, in English, of her course at the prestigious French research institute in intellectual property IRPI.
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Legal 500 recommends Crefovi in the ‟intellectual property” category
The prestigious directory of most prominent law firms, Legal 500, recommends Crefovi, and its founding and managing partner Annabelle Gauberti, in the practice area ‟Intellectual property”. We are delighted!
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London sync summit
London sync summit invites Crefovi to attend & speak at sync license conference on 7 & 8 April 2015.
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Is intellectual property in fashion & luxury a relevant topic? You bet!
A critical external risk that all managers of luxury goods and fashion companies are eager to protect themselves from is the infringement of their intellectual property rights, and in particular, brand dilution and the weakening of brand image. Lawyers are the best weapon luxury goods companies can use to enforce intellectual property in fashion and luxury, and to fight against counterfeiting, especially now that so many counterfeited products are sold on the Internet.
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The new eldorado: video streaming & streaming video content production
Streaming means listening to music or watching video in ‟real time”, instead of downloading a file to one’s computer and watching it later.
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Protection of trade secrets and craftsmanship: what is in the works?
In the legal field, craftsmanship is usually referred to as ‟know-how” or ‟trade secrets”. Unlike trademarks, copyright, designs and patents, trade secrets – which are an integral part of the creative strategy of 75 percent of companies in the European Union (‟EU”) – do not currently benefit from strong protection granted by a harmonised and set framework of rules. Therefore, what's in the works for the protection of trade secrets?
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Law of luxury goods series: intellectual property in luxury and fashion
Crefovi is delighted to partner up with the international association of lawyers for the creative industries (ialci) on the second seminar of the law of luxury goods series ‟Intellectual property: how to protect, manage & monetize the know-how & intangible capital of luxury & fashion brands”. Discover intellectual property in luxury and fashion!
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Counterfeiting, an ancestral art! Le Capital Special supplement
Before being a victim of counterfeiters, France has for a long time been the specialist of copying products ... from China! The journalist from Le Capital, Frédéric Brillet, interviews and quotes our founding and managing partner, Annabelle Gauberti, about the counterfeiting business now and then. Counterfeiting an ancestral art, is presented here.
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Fashion law is becoming a ridiculously profitable industry
Long considered ‟too fluffy” for serious lawyers, fashion law has emerged in recent years as one of the most lucrative – and occasionally absurd – new battlegrounds for the legal profession.
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Paradox of fashion
Les maisons de luxe attendent de leurs stylistes qu'ils soient originaux et créatifs. Toutefois, les directeurs créatifs doivent aussi participer à, et suivre, les tendances qui font la mode et le luxe. Ce paradoxe de la mode récurrent sera analysé par plusieurs spécialistes, dont notre associée fondatrice et gérante, Annabelle Gauberti, d'un point de vue juridique, en particulier sous l'angle de la propriété intellectuelle.
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BBC World service business report: Nike’s Converse lawsuit against competitors
Crefovi's founding and managing partner, Annabelle Gauberti, was interviewed by the BBC World Service on Nike's Converse lawsuit filed against 31 of its competitors on 14 October 2014.
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Why selective distribution makes sense for a luxury or premium business
Through selective distribution, a brand wishing to distribute its products on UK soil or on the whole territory of the European Union, has the right to set a certain number of criteria allowing it to select which dealers will have the right to resell its products.
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Music licences at the IP Clinic: they’re playing our song. Sue them!
What happens when brands fail to secure the right music licences for their advertising campaigns? How do right owners of musical rights react?
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Hip-hop & film stars to market fashion & luxury products: is this for real?
Yes! It happens more & more frequently that celebrities & entertainers market fashion & luxury products. And stars love it, as it compliments nicely their revenues from their entertainment activities & allow them to reach a wider audience. What are the advantages & pitfalls of marketing through celebrities & music bands? How do you strike such deals, in practice?
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Law of luxury goods series: publicity rights, product placement & endorsement deals. How to market through celebrities & music bands?
Crefovi is delighted to partner up with Ladurée and the international association of lawyers for the creative industries (ialci) for the launch of the first seminar of the law of luxury goods series ‟How to market through celebrities & music bands - publicity rights, product placement & endorsement deals”.
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New EU consumer contracts legislation came into force on 13 June 2014. Are you ready for this tsunami?
There has been a drastic change to consumer contracts legislation in each of the 28 member-states of the European Union, further to the coming into force, on 13 June 2014, of new national rules transposing Directive n. 2011/83/EU on consumer rights. Let's have a look at how these changes and new EU consumer contracts legislation will affect businesses operating in France and the United Kingdom.
Read More Luxury and intellectual property
On 5 June 2014, Annabelle Gauberti, founding and managing partner of London law firm for the creative industries Crefovi, will organise and present a day course on ‟Luxury and intellectual property” at the prestigious French research institute in intellectual property IRPI.
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Crefovi at HEC to teach the law of luxury goods during the luxury certificate
Crefovi's founding and managing partner, Annabelle Gauberti, taught the 54 MBA and Master students enrolled in HEC's luxury certificate, a curriculum relating to the law of luxury goods and fashion. Crefovi at HEC, in order to spread its knowledge on the luxury and fashion sectors.
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Law of luxury goods LexisNexis Formations
Annabelle Gauberti, founding and managing partner of London luxury law firm Crefovi, will present and organise a training on the law of luxury goods within the prestigious publishing house LexisNexis Formation, on 12 May 2014 and 7 July 2014.
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Why it makes sense to invest in the creative industries and support them
While many fast-growth companies in the creative industries are currently the target of heavy private equity investments and a flurry of mergers and acquisitions, it makes sense, from a tax and financial standpoint, for individuals and corporate investors to go ‟long” on creative startups and SMEs.
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Crefovi attends luxury dinner at Claridge’s, hosted by the French Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain
Annabelle Gauberti, founding and managing partner of Crefovi, was delighted to be among the guests at the luxury dinner at Claridge's, on 15 April 2014.
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