Prada

Prada is a high fashion Italian company formed in 1913. The company remained "small" for 70 years and then exploded into the high fashion market, helped along by a little film called "The Devil Wears Prada". Although you will unlikely know anyone that wears (genuine) PRADA, the company generates more profits than Levi Strauss!

Prada protects its position in the high fashion market by filing lots of trademarks and design registering nearly everything it sells. Patents are only lavished on small, distinctive features.

Trademarks:

PRADA registers trademarks for:

• PRADA logos and word marks (classes 18, 25, 35);
• the pattern applied to its fabrics (classes 18, 24, 25);
• its shoe boxes (classes 9, 18, 25);
• the shape of its distinctive shoes; and
• identifying markings applied to its shoes (class 25).

Design registrations:

PRADA design registers all its:

• products ‐ shoes (class 2), bags (class 3), jewellery (class 11) and clothing (class 2)
• fabric patterns (class 5); and
• labels (class 5).

Rights in PRADA sunglasses are housed in a joint venture between Prada and a sunglasses manufacturer.

Patents:

Prada prefers to patent small distinctive features on its products, for example:

WO2014/128575 "Process for applying handles to bags or suitcases" got a Patent Pending Number for a handbag including:

• a handle comprising: (i) a rope; and (ii) a strip that covers the rope and protrudes laterally from the rope to form tabs; and
• a bag with two slots for receiving the tabs there through, thereby to secure the handle to the bag.

You may be thinking: "kind of like a "hang tab"":

Well, it is. But, the hang tab is not wrapped around a rope and the packaging to which the hang tab is connected (via a slot in the packaging) is generally not a bag. Kind of "thin", but worth a "Patent Pending Number".