Smiley - Licensing and Legal Issues

Licensing and Legal Issues

The rights to the Smiley trademark in one hundred countries are owned by the Smiley company. Its subsidiary SmileyWorld Ltd in London headed by Nicolas Loufrani is creating all the Smiley products sold throughout the world. The Smiley brand and logo have a huge exposure through licensees from industries such as clothing, home decor, perfumes, plush, stationery, publishing, promotional campaigns... The Smiley Company is one of the 100 biggest licensing companies in the world, with a turnover of US$167 million. The first Smiley shop opened in London in the Boxpark shopping mall in December 2011.

In 1997, Franklin Loufrani and Smiley World attempted to acquire trademark rights to the symbol (and even to the word "smiley" itself) in the United States. This brought Loufrani into conflict with Wal-Mart, which had begun prominently featuring a happy face in its "Rolling Back Prices" campaign over a year earlier. Wal-Mart responded first by trying to block Loufrani's application, then later by trying to register the smiley face themselves; Loufrani in turn sued to stop Wal-Mart's application, and in 2002 the issue went to court, where it would languish for seven years before a decision.

Wal-mart began phasing out the smiley face on its vests and its website in 2006. Despite that, Wal-Mart sued an online parodist for alleged "trademark infringement" after he used the symbol (as well as various portmanteaus of "Wal-", such as "Walocaust"); and they lost that case in March 2008, when the judge declared that the smiley face is not a "distinctive" mark, and therefore cannot be trademarked by anyone—and thus, Wal-Mart has no claim to it.

In June 2010, Wal Mart and the Smiley company founded by Loufrani settled their 10-year old dispute in front of the Chicago federal court. The terms remain confidential.