Gucci Accuses Guess of Infringing Trademark and Design in $124m fight

Italian fashion label Gucci has accused Guess of trademark and design infringement complaining that Guess has taken its "G" logos and other Gucci-esque designs.

The infringement battle, which is similar to the case of Louboutin vs YSL, is a "long-running saga" which started in 2009 when the Gucci filed a suit in the New York federal court.

Gucci has accused the LA-based fashion label Guess of imitating four distinctive signatures of the brand. This includes the green and red stripe, the interlocking "G" pattern, the square "G", and the brand name's delicate script font.

Guess has denied all claims of infringement and says that the brand has "no reason to be like Gucci and it did not scheme to be like Gucci."

The LA label said Gucci's infringement claim was flawed because the company "sat on its rights" for seven years before suing.

The Telegraph reported that Gucci is seeking damages totalling more than $124 million. The Italian brand's lawyer Louis Ederer told the judge: "It's about a massive, complicated scheme to knock off Gucci's best-known and iconic designs."

In his opening speech, Guess lawyer Daniel Petrocelli remarked that of 1,495 Guess products Gucci claimed were infringing, 99 per cent "could never be confused with Gucci. The numbers don't add up," Petrocelli said. "If there was a scheme, it failed miserably."

According to Women's Wear Daily, the case, a long time in the making, is set to last up to three weeks.