LOUIS VUITTON has won a lawsuit by alleging that BRITNEY SPEARS’s music video has violated counterfeiting laws by showcasing a pink Vuitton-upholstered dashboard in a scene of her video for “Do Something”. On November 14, 2007, the Paris Court ordered SONY BMG and MTV to stop broadcasting and marketing the video and fined them 80,000 € a piece.
The ruling said the video constituted an «attack» on LOUIS VUITTON’s brands and his luxury image and considered that the shot was long enough to enable even a low attention viewer to recognize the trademark. The case is a demonstration of the reputation power. Behind the qualification of “attack” against short and fast scenes it is also the lack of the financial counterpart and the loss of control of the trademark image that are also indirectly condemned.