In reading Natalie Mak’s “Role of Trademarks in Marketing” post, I was really surprised by the aggressive nature in keeping trademarks from being used in other businesses. I understand that businesses need to do their due diligence in order to protect other firms from hurting their business, but in the case of an innocent misunderstanding and even a situation I would hardly call damaging for the Louis Vuitton brand name, I don’t believe the actions taken were appropriate against a little hair salon such as the one in the video presented:

Louis Vuitton collection design results in a lawsuit for this Hong Kong Barber

Natalie brought up the point that LV may be damaging their own image by acting as a bully and I think this is valid. I, personally, don’t see the damage to the LV brand nor do I see how the hair salon could have gained too much from simply having a design put on the chairs matching that of the LV brand. They could have taken different measures that didn’t require such aggressive behavior for a local hair salon, which would have made the situation a lot cleaner.

It is important to note the importance of doing one’s due diligence when setting up their own business. Hopefully it is an eye opener for current and upcoming businesses to do a lot of research in the rules and regulations of the business environment. One will have to watch out for infringements on names, phrases, logos, and, in this case, the pattern of other companies–even if they’re a part of a different market.

In addition to doing one’s due diligence, it goes to show the importance in developing a brand image. Creating a set of colours, patterns, words, anything you can think of is crucial to any business. It may be an aspect overlooked by many companies, but a successful business sets up a marketing department to help with the development of a positive and consist brand image from the birth of a firm.