Off-White Wins Red Zip Tie Patent for Its Footwear Range

After years of back-and-forth with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Off-White has finally been awarded trademark registration for the use of its signature red zip tie mark on its footwear. The brand, founded by the late Virgil Abloh, saw the application denied several times by the USPTO over a nearly four-year period. Off-White began using the zip tie on its products in 2016 and submitted its first application for trademark in July 2018. The zip tie regularly comes attached to Off-White products, including its much-hyped collaboration with Nike. Despite this, the application was met with pushback from the USPTO almost from the outset, with an examining attorney for the trademark office first claiming back in Dec. 2018 that the red zip tie could not be registered for a number of reasons, including a likelihood of confusion with already-registered marks. Its original application stated that the red zip tie was to be featured on handbags, wallets, and backpacks along with tops, bottoms, headwear, and footwear. But counsel for Off-White eventually dropped all of the goods but footwear in Nov. 2020 as a “response to office action.” The description of the mark was subsequently narrowed quite a bit to reflect a more limited mark

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