Urban Intellectuals Founder and CEO Freddie Taylor accused JCPenney of potential copyright infringement in a Facebook Live stream posted on Feb 8. As reported by Black News, Taylor’s accusation stems from JCPenney’s use of the phrase “Making My Ancestors Proud One Dream At A Time” on their shirts, which bears similarity to Urban Intellectuals trademarked slogan of “Busy Making My Ancestors Proud.”

During the Live video, Taylor said, “This isn’t just about a slogan on a t-shirt; it’s about the systemic disregard for the intellectual property of small, Black-owned businesses. We’ve fought hard to build a brand that uplifts and educates our community, and to see our work co-opted without any regard is both maddening and saddening.”

Taylor continued, “It’s great that they want to give back, but how can you take from the very community you’re looking to support? This isn’t support; it’s exploitation wrapped in a veneer of charity.” 

Taylor’s accusation draws more attention to the practice of larger, more popular brands or celebrities within the fashion or retail world taking elements from or outright stealing the work of smaller, Black-owned businesses or creators. It is also allegedly not the first time JCPenney has been accused of copyright infringement over its fashion designs. In 2016, Burberry sued JCPenney after the Plano, Texas-based company kept selling jackets and scarves that the company claimed infringed on the copyright of its “Burberry check” pattern. According to Reuters, Burberry and many other luxury fashion manufacturers often sue over copyright infringement because they don’t want to lose sales, customer goodwill, or damage their reputations. 

In 2022, the Duluth Trading Co. sued JCPenney for describing one of its products as a “longtail” T-shirt, which Duluth said violated its copyright. They sued JCPenney for copyright infringement and unfair competition. As reported by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, in 2011, they sent a letter to JCPenney explaining their reasons for the suit, “J.C. Penney’s use of Duluth Trading’s LONGTAIL T trademark on a similar product is highly likely to cause confusion or mistake and to deceive the public, which has come to associate the LONGTAIL T mark with our client.” Similar to its practice with Burberry, the retailer continued to market its shirts as “long tail tee shirts” despite the complaint from Duluth.

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