## Facts

- Société Yves Saint Laurent Couture S.A. (YSL Couture) created a women’s evening dress inspired by a men’s dinner jacket (“smoking”), first introduced in 1970 and later presented again in YSL’s Winter 1992 haute couture collection.
- The YSL model was described as a long, wrap-style (cross-over) evening dress with a double-breasted front, a large lapel collar (in glossy black satin) contrasting with matte black fabric, and an open construction leaving the shoulders, arms, and back bare down to the waist.
- Diffusion Rive Gauche S.A. (YSL’s ready-to-wear affiliate) prepared a short ready-to-wear version for Spring–Summer 1993, keeping the main visual features with minor modifications (including materials and buttons).
- YSL Couture and Diffusion Rive Gauche discovered that a dress sold under the Polo Ralph Lauren name was being marketed in France by entities including Société Louis Dreyfus Retail Management S.A. (Louis Dreyfus), along with other Polo-related companies.
- After obtaining evidence through a saisie-contrefaçon (court-authorized seizure of samples), YSL Couture and Diffusion Rive Gauche brought an action in the Paris Commercial Court alleging infringement (contrefaçon) of their protectable design and unfair competition (concurrence déloyale), including parasitic copying.
- The defendants argued that the “idea” of converting a dinner jacket into a dress was free for all to use and could not be monopolized, and that any similarities stemmed only from that idea rather than copying of protected expression.
- The defendants pointed to alleged differences between the garments, including aspects of the neck/collar treatment, buttoning, the front overlap, and the fact that the Polo garment was ready-to-wear rather than haute couture.
- The court compared details of construction, including the back cut: the YSL model had three seams at the back, while the Polo dress had a different back treatment (described as having only one seam).
- The defendants counterclaimed for denigration (dénigrement), relying on public statements attributed to Pierre Bergé (a principal figure associated with YSL) in Women’s Wear Daily accusing Ralph Lauren of a “point-by-point theft” of the model.

## Issues

1. Whether YSL’s tuxedo-inspired evening dress was an original, protectable design (dessin et modèle), rather than a free-to-use idea or style.
2. Whether the defendants’ Polo Ralph Lauren dress reproduced the protectable characteristics of the YSL model so as to constitute infringement (contrefaçon), despite identified differences in details and workmanship.
3. Whether the defendants’ marketing of a close imitation also amounted to unfair competition (concurrence déloyale / parasitism).
4. Whether YSL’s public accusations of “theft” in the press constituted actionable denigration (dénigrement) warranting damages to the defendants.

## Decision

- The Paris Commercial Court held that the YSL tuxedo-evening dress was an original creation capable of protection as a design/model, because protection lay in the particular arrangement and combination of features, not in the abstract notion of a dinner-jacket dress.
- The court found infringement (contrefaçon), concluding that the Polo dress reproduced the same characteristic set of elements that gave the YSL model its distinct appearance (including the long, double-breasted wrap construction, pronounced lapel collar effect, and the bare shoulders/back down to the waist); variations in certain details, including aspects of the back cut and finishing, did not remove the overall similarity.
- The court also found unfair competition, treating the defendants’ conduct as parasitic copying that took advantage of YSL’s creative and commercial efforts and the reputation attached to the YSL model.
- On the counterclaim, the court held that the press statements accusing Ralph Lauren of “point-by-point” theft went beyond what was necessary to assert rights and unlawfully discredited the defendants, constituting denigration; the court awarded damages on that basis even though it also found infringement.

## Legal Principles

- A general fashion idea (such as drawing inspiration from a dinner jacket) is not protected on its own; protection may exist for a specific design where originality appears in the selection, arrangement, and combination of elements producing a distinct visual character.
- Infringement analysis focuses on the overall impression created by the allegedly infringing product; differences in secondary details or finishing will not avoid liability if the characteristic expressive features are substantially reproduced.
- Unfair competition in French law may be established where a competitor engages in parasitic behavior by copying a creation in a way that rides on another’s investment, commercial effort, and reputation, even alongside design-right claims.
- Rights enforcement must be conducted without public disparagement; strong public accusations presented as theft—especially in the press and during a dispute—can constitute denigration and give rise to separate liability.

## Conclusion

In *Société Yves Saint Laurent Couture v. Société Louis Dreyfus Retail Management S.A.*, the Paris Commercial Court protected YSL’s tuxedo-inspired evening dress as an original design and held that the Polo/Louis Dreyfus dress infringed and constituted unfair competition based on the overall visual impression, while also ordering damages against YSL for denigration arising from inflammatory press accusations of “theft.”


Société Yves Saint Laurent Couture v. Société Louis Dreyfus Retail Management S.A., [1994] E.C.C. 512 (1994)