Women’s lifestyle vertical publisher Glam Media has launched its site in France, following last week’s Paris Fashion Week – despite two warnings from a French company that it owns the “Glam” trademark in the country.
The French launch is the latest international expansion for Glam, which has launched in Japan, the UK and Germany, and counts MSN.fr founder Jean-Pierre Levieux as its general manager.
Amid the international expansion of Glam Media’s “vertical content network” last year, Glam One, a “vertically integrated social media platform” that owns glam.fr, began warning the U.S. company off, announcing it owns the “Glam” trademark and: “All unauthorised use of these brands could lead to counterfeiting penalties.”
Glam Media’s international head Bernard Desarnauts told us back in November the two companies operate in different spaces – Glam One has launched a social network and runs a series of portals based around the performing arts, but Glam Media is a content aggregator and ad network that brings together female-focused articles from some 1,800 sites in four continents.
So Glam Media has gone ahead with its launch anyway, at glammedia.fr. Arnaud Fischer, CEO of the French Glam One, is still today reminding Twitter followers that his company owns the “Glam” trademark. Asked today, Fischer told me: “we are not ok with anybody infringing on our trademark in France and will vigorously protect our rights…”
Unclear whether we’re about to see a genuine trademark cat fight, or just posturing from the French company. Queries are in with with U.S. firm.
Glam Media is making an immediate play for French advertisers in the fashion and beauty spaces. It’s attracted a favourable review in France’s Le Figaro paper.
But Glam goes up against Axel Springer-owned auFeminin, which has a foothold in the market.