FashionUnited wins keyword court case against Fashion Group

FashionUnited has won the court case against Fashion Group, which sued the online B2B fashion platform for using the keyword “fashion jobs” in its meta data. Both Fashion Group and FashionUnited list jobs in the fashion industry online.

Fashion Group owned the trademark to “fashion jobs”. FashionUnited, active in more than 20 countries, is using “fashion jobs” to describe what users can expect to find when visiting its platform. Also for its French website, FashionUnited.fr, the English keywords “fashion jobs” are being used, harming the trademark rights, according to Fashion Group. On Friday, 27th of November, the High Court of Paris decided that the descriptive trademark “fashion jobs” can’t be protected. For that reason, Fashion Group not only lost the court case, but also no longer owns the trademark, particularly in relation with advertising services.

“We are glad that we won this keyword court case”, said Lena Steffen, FashionUnited’s SEO specialist. “Choosing the most suitable keyword to describe your services is a vital part of your business. Visitors need to know what kind of information they can find on your website. We are a one-stop-shop fashion platform and fashion jobs are an integral part of it.”

Sabine Lipovetsky from Paris based law firm Kahn et Associés represented FashionUnited in the court case. FashionUnited hopes that this case contributes to new jurisprudence to protect the freedom and usability of the internet.

French Court Code N° RG : 14/13839.