Why Kanye West Shouldn’t Worry About That Trademark Story

This week, news broke that Kanye West is currently facing an uphill legal battle after an obscure Chinese company filed paperwork laying claim to the rapper-designer’s precious “Yeezy Boost” trademark. The stories all painted a similar picture: an expired trademark, some forgotten legal paperwork, and a ruthless foreign competitor with a funny name (Fujian Baby Network Technology Co.) who grabbed one of fashion’s most coveted trademarks. Luckily for Team Yeezy, only half of that story is true—and because the ins-and-outs of intellectual property law are far too complex to fit in a punchy headline, the reality of situation was pretty much lost in translation. The real talk here is: Ye shouldn’t sweat this whole fiasco too much. “It’s kind of fascinating to see everybody make such big deal about this,” says Sam P. Israel, a New York attorney who specializes in intellectual property. “The most that [this Chinese company] has to gain from all of this is just to be a pain in the ass. The fact of the matter is that it’s a simple thing to resolve. Kanye West owns the mark. If he was using the mark first, it’s his mark.” Read more at GQ.