Dayum, and here we thought Ciaté was doing something unique.
A few months ago, we were super excited to announce the new trend of nail art called, the “Caviar Manicure,” but to our surprise, the nail company that claimed to have invented the style is just a poser!
EEK!
According to a number of bloggers that write about nail polish, Ciaté sent cease and desist letters ordering them to remove their how-to posts on the caviar manicure.
However, bloggers beg to differ, citing celebrity nail artist, Pattie Yankee, as the person responsible for the caviar manicure. In fact, Yankee came up with the concept in 2010 using the same materials as Ciaté.
Yankee spoke up on the mishap:
“I did originate the name of caviar nails. I named the nail look ‘caviar manicure’ backstage for the press.”
Since Ciat├â┬⌐ is a lot more powerful than the blogging community, the writers followed through with the company’s requests to stop using “caviar manicure” and altered the name to “Fish Egg Manicure.”
Clever!
Blogger Pam Pastor had a few choice words for Ciaté:
“Ciate made a big mistake sending out those letters. You don├óΓé¼Γäót see Chanel kicking up a shitstorm when people try to find cheaper alternatives to their limited edition shades. I think the nail world is big enough to accommodate both high end options and cheaper alternatives. There will always be a market for both. There’s no need for cease-and-desist letters ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ let people make an informed decision when buying nail products.”
Pattie even sought legal advice, but since she never actually sold the caviar manicure, she received no type of copyright protection.
Professor of law at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Guillermo Jimenez said:
“Did the coiner of the phrase sell a product called ‘caviar manicure’? If not, no protection ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ you get no rights just for coining a phrase, unless you use it commercially. But if the term caviar manicure has become known widely already for that type of product, the term could already be ‘generic’ or ‘descriptive’ ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ difficult or impossible to protect with trademark for Ciat├â┬⌐.”
Hmm, sounds like the bloggers and the celebrity nail artist got no type of love with this awful situation.
And to make matters worse, Ciat├â┬⌐ apparently hadn’t even officially trademarked the product when they sent out the letters to the bloggers.
Ooooh, how shiesty!
The lesson here is to trademark your concept before a company bigger than you takes your idea, or else be ready to be left in the dust!
[Image via zabranjeni-grad.blogspot.com.]