Tyga’s MSCHF trainers prompt legal battle with Vans

completemusicupdate.com:

Tyga has joined the exclusive club of rappers who have collaborated with MSCHF on trainers that resulted in legal action. Previously the only lonely occupant of this club was Lil Nas X.MSCHF and Tyga put their limited edition Wavy Baby trainers – which appear as if they have been digitally warped – on sale on Monday via the MSCHF Sneakers website, reportedly seeing them sell out in just ten minutes.The same day, MSCHF also filed its formal opposition to a legal request made last week by shoe maker Vans seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the Wavy Baby product, which – it reckons – infringes its trademarks.In its filing last week, Vans claimed that the MSCHF shoes “blatantly and unmistakably incorporate Vans’ iconic trademarks” and that MSCHF “shamelessly marketed the Wavy Baby shoe in a direct effort to confuse consumers”.MSCHF countered all that by claiming that this was a free speech issue, saying its shoes were making a comment about the industry in which Vans operates.Citing its official description of the product, it said: “By ‘smash[ing] the digital and the physical together in an object’ [as it describes the shoe on its website], Wavy Baby inverts that retreat, translating virtual shoes back into physical goods, leaving behind a bizarre remnant that questions whether we can re-emerge from our digital lives – on social media, for example, where images and videos of Vans abound – without also being fundamentally warped”.Its shoe, MSCHF goes on, is an “‘exaggerated shoe’ that is wobbly in shape, unique in appearance, and not practical for everyday wear”, while the “distinctive wavy shape” of its sole would make it unlikely that anyone would confuse its design with that of a Vans.