Walmart Starts Beef With Kanye West Over Yeezy Logo

Kanye West has inadvertently entered into a trademark war with Walmart over logo similarities.

Walmart filed a complaint with the US Patent and Trademark Office on April 21 after Kanye West‘s Yeezy brand submitted a logo design the retail corporation deemed too similar to their own. Yeezy LLC entered a filing for a new design on Jan. 3, 2020, which resembles the sun and is made up of eight three-dotted black spokes. The design does look close to the Walmart logo, which depicts six solid lines with rounded ends that looks like a sun also. Walmart’s logo is also yellow and is referred to by the retail company as their “spark design.”

According to a separate portion of the retail giant’s legal filing, which was obtained by XXL on Wednesday (April 28), along with their concerns of confusion for shoppers, the retail store is worried about “a false affiliation” that could “injure and damage” Walmart’s relationship with other brands they work with.

Walmart did not offer XXL a statement, but the company did share a letter issued to Yeezy brand’s lawyers, Timothy Yoo and Robert Rose, on April 19. Rose appears to have filed the trademark for the logo.

The statement reads in part: “As expressed in Walmart’s previous correspondence, Walmart believes the logo design depicted in the Yeezy Application is confusingly similar to Walmart’s well-known spark logo design pictured below (“Walmart Spark Design”). Because of Walmart’s concerns, Walmart filed for an extension of time to oppose registration of the Yeezy Application in the hope that Yeezy and Walmart could reach an agreement about the manner in which the Walmart Spark Design and Yeezy Application could co-exist without consumer confusion. As we have previously mentioned, with the little information provided in the intent to use application, it is difficult for Walmart to determine, without more information from Yeezy, how the parties could work together to eliminate confusion.”

The email continues: “As we referenced in our correspondence in July and August of 2020, January and February of 2021 and our telephone conference in March of 2021, Walmart has repeatedly sought to understand Yeezy’s planned use of the Yeezy Application, with the goal of finding ways in which the Walmart Spark Design and the Yeezy Application can co-exist with one another. However, to date, we have not received any conclusive information from Yeezy regarding the planned use or any cooperation from Yeezy in order to find common ground.”

Walmart added that they haven’t received “any substantive feedback, in order for Walmart to preserve its rights and protect the Walmart Spark Design, Walmart must move forward in filing a Notice of Opposition against the Yeezy Application.”

After acquiring deals with the Gap, Inc. and Adidas, the Yeezy clothing and sneaker brand has reportedly been valued between $3.2 billion and $4.7 billion by UBS Group AG. ’Ye launched Yeezy with Adidas back in 2015 after parting ways with Nike in 2013.

XXL has reached out to Kanye West’s team and Walmart for comment.

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