Two cases in the last week have highlighted naming issues in New Zealand's blossoming fashion industry.
Last week top designer Trelise Cooper opposed an Intellectual Property Office decision to allow Tamsin Cooper to register her name as a brand and has threatened legal action.
Trelise Cooper said she is opposing Tamsin Cooper's application to trademark her name for her collection of silk and embroidery accessories and clothes after comparing her marketing with her own branding.
The second case surrounds Auckland designer Helen Cherry, who after nearly a decade developing her brand, is taking action against Dunedin designer Tanya Carlson and the use of the name Cherry Cotton Candy, which she uses for her clothing range for 13 to 25-year-olds.
Lawyers says we can expect to see more designers fighting to protect ownership of labels and trade names they have worked hard to establish.
Intellectual property specialist Sarah-Jane Weir says the law is quite simple.
"It really comes down to whether you and I as consumers would be confused about who's making the item of clothing in question."
While the value of a label is difficult to put a price tag on a trademark can be protected by registration. That is at the heart of the Cherry dispute.
"Maybe they wanted to do a secondary label with the word Cherry in it. But in that case they should have done some strategic planning and trademarked what they wanted to do with the label or trademarked the word Cherry," says Carlson.
Both sides of the Cherry dispute are confident of success and hope the row won't end up in court.
In the Cooper case Trelise says there is confusion among buyers in stores stocking both labels. Tamsin Cooper says she will fight back, but is worried the process may prove financially ruinous.
Patent lawyer Sheana Wheeldon says trademark registration cases are often settled out of court. But she says to succeed in court Trelise Cooper must prove the public is being confused or misled into buying Tamsin Cooper clothing.
