Danielle Bernstein sues the lingerie brand for accusing her of copying designs

Danielle Bernstein, a fashion designer was accused by The Great Eros, an international brand for copying the signature nude print and putting it on her, WeWoreWhat items even the wallpaper.

WeWoreWhat produced line silhouettes of bodies on a white background. After it became popular, they launched it on other products including scarves and wallpapers. However, the design was similar to the tissue paper that, The Great Eros used to pack their products. Some people had pointed out the similarities between the two designs. 

On 15th October, a lawsuit was filed where The Great Eros had privately sent a cease-desist letter to WeWoreWhat on August 10. They blamed Bernstein of applying the same design on their products and ‘committing copyright infringement and engaging in unfair competition’.

Apparently, the Lawsuit was not filed by The Great Eros but against them by WeWoreWhat and their partner, Onia. They want the court to declare that it was not them who copied the design also, they did not violate copyright or any other rights under the Lanham Act or common law.

In the case, the Lanham (Trademark) Act is a primary federal statute of law in the United States. It prohibits trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising. Even the California Common Law prohibits false advertising and illegal business practices, as existing legislation that supports its claims.

WeWoreWhat claims that the design was created independently which was inspired by the silhouette drawings and Henri Matisse’s line drawings. 

In the investigation, it was found that WeWoreWhat had never bought or received any product from The Great Eros in the previously mentioned tissue paper. The lawsuit states that the silhouettes of the human form are not owned by anyone. 

Along with the similarities, the two designs are different too. In WeWoreWhat’s design, the silhouette includes the heads while The Great Eros does not have heads.On October 13, The Great Eros filed a complaint about ‘copyright infringement and claims for unfair competition under the Lanham Act and states law claims regarding unfair business practices”.

In the complaint filed by The Great Eros, it is mentioned the Danielle Bernstein had visited The Great Eros before they had produced the alleged product. On the day, when the complaint was drafted, The Great Eros registered the design in the copyright office.

The design was of prominent importance to The Great Eros who defined the design as their ‘brand identity’ and ‘source identifier’. People had been associating WeWoreWhat’s products with The Great Eros.

The Great Eros has been incurring substantial losses due to ‘diversion of trade, loss of profits and a diminishment in the value of goods and reputation.’ The WeWoreWhat shall be held accountable for the damage because in associating with the brand of ‘low fashion appeal and low quality’. They are also seeking to remove all the products withdrawn from the market.

Although the suit filed by Danielle Bernstein was dismissed, The Great Eros shall continue to fight and protect their rights to the full extent said the lawyer, Jeff Gluck. He also made a list of similarities which included the colour, scale of the drawing, weight of the line stroke, rotation of each drawing, identical length and the width of every body part.

The Great Eros acknowledged the complaint on their Instagram stories on 16th October.

It is important to be noted that it is not the first time Danielle Bernstein has accused of her products, although a suit was never filed against earlier. In her 2018 jewellery collection in collaboration with Lulu DK, the designs were similar to those of Foundrae, Retrouvai and Bondeye.

Earlier this year, she was again blamed for copying a mask design from By Second Wind. however, she claimed that she had been producing the masks much before By Second Wind. She said that it was not an original concept and she had never claimed it as her own.

A Poshmark seller had claimed that she had gotten a similar copy of the Silhouette WeWoreWhat design before they were even released in the market.

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