IICOMBINED Co., which operates the global fashion eyewear brand GENTLE MONSTER, said on the 23rd that it is pursuing civil and criminal legal proceedings against the domestic startup eyewear brand "Blue Elephant Co." The company alleges that not only sunglasses and eyeglasses but even the store interior were almost identically plagiarized.
GENTLE MONSTER, known for the so-called "Jennie sunglasses," is a brand founded in Korea in 2011. It has secured investment from global corporations such as Google and LVMH, and has also been selected as a collaboration partner.
Blue Elephant, the opposing party in the lawsuit, is an emerging brand established in 2019. GENTLE MONSTER claims Blue Elephant copied not only products like sunglasses and eyeglasses but also accessories and even the store interior concept.
According to IICOMBINED, GENTLE MONSTER has no business or manufacturing affiliation with any other company that operates an eyewear brand. It also said that an internal review regarding similarities in some product designs confirmed a high degree of similarity in at least 30 eyewear products.
According to results of a 3D scanning analysis commissioned by IICOMBINED to experts, GENTLE MONSTER's JEFF model, released in Aug. 2021, and a specific Blue Elephant product showed 99.9441% similarity. Many other products were also found to show similarity levels of 99% and 95%.
IICOMBINED argues that similarities were observed not only in products but also in components and the spatial design symbolizing the brand. In the case of GENTLE MONSTER's Shanghai store, which opened in 2021, and Blue Elephant's Myeong-dong store, which opened in 2024, the method of spatial production, including the forms and arrangement of installations, is said to be highly similar.
It was also confirmed that the same design as a pouch product unveiled by GENTLE MONSTER in Feb. 2021 was filed and registered under the Blue Elephant CEO's name about two years later, in May 2023. In response, IICOMBINED filed an invalidation trial over the design with the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board in Mar. this year and is currently awaiting a decision.
Along with this, IICOMBINED is pursuing civil and criminal legal procedures to protect the brand and prevent consumer confusion. It filed a criminal complaint with investigative authorities against Blue Elephant in Dec. last year and applied twice, in Mar. and Jun. this year, for provisional attachments to preserve damages. In Oct., it filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction and damages under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
An IICOMBINED official said, "GENTLE MONSTER has grown into a global brand over the past 14 years through the concerns and efforts of countless creators and employees, and with consumers' interest and affection," adding, "We will respond firmly so that there will no longer be acts that imitate the brand identity and creative outputs, damage brand value, and cause confusion for consumers."