Today students from scandinavia gathered here to protest against the Italian designer Roberto Cavalli. He is being accused for not following the trademark law. This protest is a part of a global effort to raise awareness.
He is accused of copying an old sufi symbol.
‘The emblem stands for purity and love. The name of God (Allah) is written in it. We want to protect this emblem as it is. If it is misused for other things the true meaning will be lost. Roberto Cavalli is abusing trademark law.
This emblem has been registreted since 1987. It belongs to MTO Shahmaghsoudi, a sufi school with 500 000 students around the world. The main point if the demonstrations is that Roberto Cavallo can not use what is not his. Today there are deminstration in Berlin and Vancouver.
So far to this date there have been demonstration in London and other major cities in the world. so this is an ongoing effort in all of Europe and North America.’
According the Guardian the designer disclaims its plagiarism and that OHIM has approved it. Roberto Cavalli appears to have no plans to stop using the emblem.