Rihanna’s old Instagram post costs Puma patent dispute

Puma has lost a patent dispute over a post Rihanna shared on Instagram almost 10 years ago.

On Wednesday, March 6, the German sportswear company was refused to patent the sneaker design they registered in 2016, Yahoo reports. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has agreed with Dutch shoe company Handelsmaatschappij J. van Hilst (HJVH) that the registration is invalid attributable to evidence showing that Rihanna wore the shoes before filing the patent application.

The EU ruling states that “prior disclosure of a Puma shoe model by artist Rihanna” invalidates the shoe’s design patent.

The Bajan pop star shared an Instagram post promoting the sneakers in 2014, 12 months before Puma filed its patent application. Photos shared in December 2014 show Rihanna wearing Puma shoes with a thick black sole.

Puma tried to appeal the ruling, arguing that nobody was interested when Rihanna initially shared the post. However, the EU says the “Diamonds” singer was still a worldwide pop star and the photo was spread by multiple media outlets.

“Rihanna was a world-famous pop star, it is worth noting that both her fans and those specializing in the fashion industry were particularly interested in the shoes she created at that time. he wore it on day, under which an agreement was signed under which the star became the creative director of the complainant,” we read within the ruling.

“In this situation, it is completely reasonable to assume that a significant number of people were interested in the music or Rihanna herself, including her clothes.”

The decision comes a 12 months after Rihanna resumed her role as creative director of Puma after taking time without work to launch her brands Fenty Beauty and Fenty X Savage and embarking on motherhood.