What is quiet luxury? That was the question addressed on the second day of the Luxury Brands Symposium in Vienna, in a session chaired by Noemi Parrotta, Spheriens, Italy, a member of the MARQUES Famous & Well Known Marks Team

Tobias Bayer, Editor-in-chief, The Italian Fashion Magazine, Italy discussed the emergence of quiet luxury in the fashion industry. Before COVID, fashion was dominated by elegant and bold styles led by brands such as Gucci, Virgil Abloh’s Off-White and Stone Island.

But since 2020, the industry been influenced by the simple styles evident in TV shows such as Succession and Peaky Blinders. “After the loud period, we came into a new period,” said Tobias. This is typified by Loro Piana, Zegna, The Row, Totême and Khaite.

“Quiet luxury is a bit of a fuzzy concept,” said Tobias. “It’s not boring. On the contrary, it’s quite remarkable.” It is characterised by timeless fashion, lack of logos and trade marks, noble fabrics and materials, sustainability and noteworthy construction.

On Thursday evening, Mag Astrid Fialka-Herics, Head of the Jewellery and Watches Department, Dorotheum, Vienna gave a talk on “Magnificent Jewels – Outstanding Brands” which was accompanied by a performance by the Streichquartett Klosterneuburg. This was followed by a Champagne Reception and Dinner.

Monica Vibeke Kristensen, Associate GC, and Serena Trotta, both from Loro Piana, Italy explained how the company has a vertically integrated value chain in Italy and was acquired by LVMH in 2013. Monica said the key aspects of quiet luxury are: products, aesthetics, quality and sustainability. “You have to touch it to understand it. From an IP perspective, this is the biggest challenge we face,” she said.

Products tend to be minimalistic, with straight lines and simple colours, but use high-quality materials. “This is going to stay, and it will make our job as lawyers hard and intense,” said Monica. Serena developed the theme of the collision of quiet luxury and traditional legal protection

She highlighted the challenge of counterfeits and copycats (also known as dupes – both high level and low level). The latter are particularly difficult to handle, said Serena, though unfair competition law can be useful. The company’s strategy is to collaborate with brands, platforms and authorities and to educate consumers to grow brand awareness.

Christoph Bartos, Boards of Appeal, Head of the Examination Board of the EUTM Education Programme, EUIPO, Spain emphasised the unitary character of the EU trade mark, and the need for classification to be clear and precise. “Quiet luxury has a problem – you don’t have trade marks,” he said.

He discussed cases where applications for position marks have been refused, including T-307/23 regarding two stripes on a shoe, R 1774/2023-1 for a line and a red heart on a piece of clothing. However, in R 1291/2023-2 a line on a shoe was accepted for registration and an EUTM was registered for colours on a sleeve (19030653).

Christoph also summarised recent decisions on pattern marks, sound marks and movement marks and initiatives such as a Common Communication and CP11. “I see some hope for registration of non-traditional marks based on inherent distinctiveness,” said Noemi.

“Maybe silence itself is a luxury,” said Dr. Reinhard Hinger, Chamber President of the Appellate Court of Vienna, Austria. While he said he had not found any cases specifically on quiet luxury, he presented 12 trade mark decisions that provided some useful points.

These covered horses, hotels, caviar, beer, fashion retail (ZARA HOME v AZRA HOME), movies (Rat Pack Filmproduktion v RAT PAC), drinks (F1 v Formula1), vehicles, entertainment (LADY GAGA v GAGA), tourism (AIDA CRUISES v AVIDA) and music (the shape of an organ).

Finally, Christoph returned to provide some insights on protection of marks with a reputation under Article 8(5) and in particular the various factors taken into consideration in assessing whether there is a link (ie, whether the contested mark calls the earlier reputed trade mark to mind): degree of similarity of signs, degree of closeness of goods and services, strength of reputation, degree of inherent distinctive character, existence of likelihood of confusion and any other factor.