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Franklin & Marshall as global fashion brand

By Rebecca Tushnet

This NYT story, which confuses copyright with trademark, tells the interesting story of a fashion brand that, failing to realize that Franklin & Marshall was an actual US college (or at least that's the official story: given that they found an F&M sweatshirt in a thrift store as the inspiration for the brand, I'm not exactly sure that's plausible), developed the brand in Europe and now Japan. There's now a licensing deal, though apparently only in the US, because F&M doesn't own the mark outside the US--Cecil McBee didn't do as well when something similar happened to him. F&M seems reasonably happy with the result, trusting that any effect on its brand is an enhancement.

Full post as published by 43(B)log on April 03, 2010 (boomark / email).