| The yellow smiling face, or "smiley," has sparked a major legal battle between Wal-Mart and French entrepreneur Franklino Lufrani. Both parties claim the exclusive right to use the yellow smile. For many years, this symbol has been part of the Wal-Mart employee uniform. But Mr. Lufrani is still confident that he is the inventor of the logo. Over the past thirty years, the enterprising Frenchman has managed to earn millions from copyrights. Today his company SmileyWorld has a patent for the “smiley” in 80 countries. As Euronews reports, the “logo issue” will soon be examined by the US Patent Office.
In the USA, this symbol has gained particular popularity and is considered public domain. Wal-Mart nevertheless decided to secure the exclusive right to use the “smiley”, despite its wild popularity on the Internet. Company spokesman John Simley told the Los Angeles Times that the company did not intend to include a “smiley face” in the trademark until Mr. Loufrani first decided to do so: “It’s kind of ironic, because the whole dispute is developing around a smiling faces. But at the end of the day, it is what it is: it’s a sign that we’ve made a decent investment in, and it’s very often identified with our company.”
Lufrani claims to have invented the yellow face long before Wal-Mart started using it. The Frenchman dates his brainchild to 1968. American retailers began using the yellow logo in 1996 and are confident that in the United States they are the only copyright holders for this symbol. Apparently, the experts of the Patent Office will have to solve a difficult task, including cultural research. Although formally the law is on the side of the Frenchman, a lot of water has passed under the bridge since the appearance of the “smiley”. A decision on who will get exclusive rights to the yellow logo is expected in August. Denis UVAROV
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