A domestic trademark dispute over the French fashion brand "Marithe Francois Girbaud" (hereafter Marithe), which is regaining popularity at home and abroad, has wrapped up for now, but confusion persists on the ground. Although a court granted an injunction banning trademark infringement in Jul. last year, clarifying the official license holder, products bearing another company's mark are still being distributed in the market.
According to the industry in September, Marithe is called one of the so-called "3 Ma" fashion companies enjoying recent popularity along with Matin Kim and Mardi Mercredi. Marithe, a brand that was in vogue in the 1990s, has been drawing renewed attention in recent years, centered on Millennials and Gen Z (born from the late 1980s to the early 2000s). At its peak it was a unisex brand focused on denim, but it has been rebranded with an emphasis on womenswear.
On the afternoon of the 7th, discount shops were operating in several parts of Seongsu-dong, Seoul, in addition to Marithe's official store. At a glance, they were temporary shops different from the brand's official store. Instead of a signboard, a banner with the brand logo and the phrase "50% off all items" fluttered on the building's exterior wall. Posters with discount information in Chinese and Japanese were attached to the windows. One of these shops is operating on Yeonmujang-gil, where Marithe's official store is located.
That day, T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies and hats were displayed by size and color on tables and hangers. Perhaps because they were sold at about half the list price, there were quite a few visitors browsing the products. Not only Koreans but also foreigners came to the store.
At first glance it was hard to find major issues with the design or quality, but the product label (tag) listed the manufacturer as "CLEVI CO., Ltd." Cleivi is the company that fought a trademark dispute with Layer, the fashion company that currently holds Marithe's official license. Layer has defined the products sold by Cleivi as fakes (counterfeit or imitation goods) and has taken legal action.
The dispute was triggered when Marithe signed an additional license agreement with Cleivi in 2023, while Layer had held the exclusive domestic license for the French brand Marithe since 2019. In effect, a double contract was formed targeting the same market. It is known that Layer obtained its license from the brand's headquarters, while Cleivi obtained its license from a separate entity that held equity in the brand.
Layer, which had been discussing a long-term partnership with the brand's headquarters and founders, did not immediately take legal action against Cleivi's claim of an exclusive license. However, as the domestic distribution of Cleivi's products continued, Layer filed for an injunction to ban trademark infringement in March last year, and the court granted the request in July of the same year.
Under the court's decision, Layer is now the only holder of Marithe's trademark rights in Korea. Even for unavoidable reasons such as clearing inventory, it is illegal for any company other than Layer to manufacture or sell Marithe products. Although Cleivi produced products based on its license agreement, those products are legally fakes.
Layer is posting warnings about fakes, including attaching QR codes, but consumer inquiries continue. There have been successive cases of customers requesting refunds from the place of purchase after having their products verified by Layer following purchases at discount shops. Layer asked, "If you discover a product suspected of being fake, please report it to our customer center immediately."