Ye Files Patent for Curious New Product
The company controlled by Ye, the rapper and fashion designer formerly known as Kanye West, registered for a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on May 4 for a product called YZY Sock Shoes.
The patent filed by California-based Mascotte Holdings, Inc. was accepted by the USPTO on May 8, but has yet to be assigned to an examining attorney. The filing describes the YZY Sock Shoe as “Socks; socks with leather soles,” and includes the categories of games, toys and sporting goods, as well as clothing, footwear and headgear.
More from Sourcing Journal
Adidas Says It Will Sell Yeezy Product and Donate Proceeds to Charity
As Ye Trolls German Ex, Investor Will Squeeze Adidas on Yeezy Probe
Not all patent filings necessarily make the leap to goods produced for sale, especially in the case of Ye’s holding company Mascotte Holdings, Inc., which in the fall of 2022, registered dozens of patents for versions of the name YeezyVerse, which was described as “nutritional consultation for individuals and groups in the field of achieving energy balance through appropriate nutrition, and achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.” The filings came just before Ye’s repeated anti-semitic comments caused Adidas and Balenciaga to terminate their Yeezy collaborations, with Gap also parting ways with the controversial personality.
Ye’s most recent patent registration was filed on March 3 under the title Ye, which was intended to be a brand of surround-sound ear buds a la Beats.
Prior to that, the last Mascotte Holdings mark was applied for on Oct. 9, 2022 for a clothing brand called Tremendez, only days before the rapper’s offensive tirade made headlines.
The registration of the new mark comes as Ye’s former collaboration partner Adidas announced what it would ultimately do with the $1.3 billion of Yeezy shoes that had already been produced at the time of the German company’s decision to dissolve the once-lucrative partnership. Last week, Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden said at the company’s annual meeting that Adidas would sell the shoes and donate the proceeds to charities representing groups “hurt by Kanye’s statements.”
Ye filed the trademark registration for YZY Sock Shoes a day after he and his lead designer/wife Bianca Censori were seen leaving what was believed to be a secret fashion show for his Yeezy Season 10 launch at his 7,500-square-foot warehouse next to an Adidas store on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.
No word as yet on when Yeezy Season 10 will launch.
