According to mtv.com, Chanel, the iconic haute couture fashion house, is currently engaging in a war of rights for the Instagram handle “@Chanel.” The fashion conglomerate has had to resort to using the mouthful “@ChanelOfficial” rather than the much sleeker “@Chanel” handle for its Instagram account because @Chanel is currently being used by a 20 year old Canadian woman. Canadian Chanel joined the photo-sharing social network as @Chanel in 2011, three years prior to the fashion house, thereby giving her the rights to the sought after handle. While the fashion house is notoriously litigious about its trademarks and was successfully able to force Canadian Chanel to remove two photos that may have misled users to believe that she represented the brand, Canadian Chanel seems appears to have the upper hand in this battle, at least for now.
Loren Shokes is an Entertainment and Sports Highlight Contributor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current second year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2017).