Conde Nast, the publisher of Vogue Magazine has taken aim at the new album “Her Loss” by Drake and 21 Savage. On 8 November 2022, Vogue filed a lawsuit against the rappers for using Vogue’s name on their album cover without permission. Further Vogue’s publisher has alleged that the rappers have infringed on Vouge’s trade mark.
Conde Nast stated the unapproved use of Vogue’s trade mark and false representation that the Defendants would feature on Vogue’s next cover, was a poignant part of the Defendant’s marketing campaign, with their social media following exceeding 135 million followers.
The publisher also claims that the rappers created a knock-off issue of Vogue which was distributed in major city areas, along with a poster with an identical layout to Vogue’s. Conde Nast claimed this resulted in confusion among the public and led to the media portraying both Drake and 21 Savage as Vogue’s new cover stars.
Vogue’s publisher is seeking at least four million dollars in damages or triple the Defendants’ profits from their album and knock-off magazine, including punitive damages and a restraining order to stop the infringement on Vogue’s trade mark.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff has since issued a temporary restraining order which blocks the rappers from using fake copies of Vogue Magazines to promote their album. Judge Rakoff stated Conde Nast had shown a possibility of success on its trade mark infringement and false advertisement claims.
The judge also concluded consumers were being confused which caused the publisher irreparable damage.
Please keep your eye on the Reading Room for further updates.
By Ricardo Maraj-Bennett, an LLM student at Solent University.
