Glam Media faces legal battle following French launch

A spokesman for Glam One said the site is in the process of filing a lawsuit against Glam Media over perceived infringement rights.

Glam One hopes to block Glam Media's expansion into France under the domain name GlamMedia.fr, by claiming it owns the right to the trademark 'Glam'.

The domain name has already attracted more than 2.5 million unique visitors.

Glam One said it owns more than 400 two-syllable "glam" domains and five vertical content networks, and claims any unauthorised use of the word constitutes trademark infringement and could lead to criminal prosecution. 

Glam One has already initiated opposition with the OHMI (Office des marques communautaires) to protect its brand and will continue to block any attempt de register infringing trademarks.

Arnaud Fischer, chief executive of Glam One, said: "Glam Media's use of our trademark in France with the ambition to reach to luxury brands in France comes as a total contradiction and a lack of respect for the very fundamental principles of intellectual property rights and protection championed by the industry.

"In addition to legal actions, we have reached out to the anti-counterfeiting Comite Colbert, chaired by leading luxury industry executives and supported by Eric Woerth, ministre du Budget."

Glam Media were unavailable to comment.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk