Estée Lauder Companies claims Zara collaboration with perfumer breaches long-standing naming agreement
The British perfumer Jo Malone has said she is “surprised and very sad” after being sued for more than £200,000 in damages for using her name on fragrances she created for the fashion chain Zara.
It emerged last month that New York-based multinational Estée Lauder Companies, which owns brands M.A.C, Bobbi Brown, Estée Lauder and Jo Malone London, was taking legal action, claiming the fragrance entrepreneur infringed trademarks.
Malone sold her perfume brand to the US cosmetics group in 1999 in a deal under which she was blocked from using her name for particular commercial reasons, including the marketing of fragrance.
She stepped down as creative director of the Jo Malone brand in 2006 and has since said she regretted selling the rights to her name, calling it the “biggest mistake of my life”.
