Hmmmm...they are VERY similar...

it's kind of generic..i mean...a four leafed clover outline. it's pretty basic

yeah...I thought they might do that. The design and the way they are arranged and designed are VERY similar.

Van Cleef & Arpels had the design first but I can see why they'd be upset. Heidi Klum's line is a lot more affordable so she is probably brining in more customers for her line. Oh well...I'd like to see the end result of this law suit.

I'm not really a van cleef and arpels girl since well I can't afford it and I didn't know wabout there design, but it honestly does look like she poached it straight from them. Then again how many truly original concepts are there? I mean there has to be aversion for every one and I'm sure the van Cleef and Arpels people are very different than the Heidi Klum customer

They don't look that similair to me. In gact they look just like my clover tattoo. Maybe I should sue too.

Its a four leaf clover there's not many ways to make that different

She is a very smart businesswomen, I'm sure she can bail herself out of this one. Anwyays, $25,00 is nothing for her.

tiffany and co. sells a pair of four leaf clover earrings as well. wonder if they will get sued? but anyway I noticed a little while ago that the designs were VERY similar and I was surprised there was no lawsuit...spoke to soon I guess

too*

They are very similar, but as someone stated above, it IS a pretty basic design...

I don't think $25K is anything for Klum & Co. to fuss about too much.

Is that maybe a typo? $25,000? That seems like a paltry sum, and that Van Cleefs is doing this for the publicity only.

The four leaf clover is pretty generic...and seriously Van Cleef is getting more publicity than they ever could b/c of being attatched to Heidi's name. And like Bshax mentioned, 25k is not that much for a lawsuit. I've never ever heard of them in my life.

i saw the van cleef ad in some magazine. i thought it was heidi klum's higher end line.

Yep looks very much alike ....didnt she have someone advising her?
25 K!! please that is pocket money ...woneder how much they will be paying the Lawyer?

I'd rather buy Heidi's line...way more affordable anyway.

i've seen that design elsewhere at least 2 years prior to to the launch of van cleef and arpels or klum's version and given a family member earrings and a necklace with that same motif so vc&a is not original in it's design either. it's shape also has symbolism beyond the four leaf clover that heidi mentions. it seems vc&a's intention is to garner more publicity for their line.

Yah...cuz clovers are so unique...how many ways are there to make a four leaf clover...come on now!

She copied them
Heidi pretends to know it all she's a fake
I don't like her
she's such a Paris Hilton

i love that clover charm, simple but elegant. wonder who will come out on top of this one.

as a jewelry designer myself, i am very aware of similar designs, and i always wondered about this...

It's a clover, the design is so simple.. how are you supposed to change something that basic? Does VC&A own the right to clovers? Ha.

It's not just that they are both clover designs, they look exactly the same! And yeah, Heidi's is more affordable, but I would prefer to have the VC&A because it's heirloom jewelry, like Cartier or Tiffany's.

i think they just want to get more publicity to their name, Heidi Klum's lawyers will end this really fast

Uhm... the Alhambra clover is so called because... shocker, this one ... it's a common motif in the architecture of the Alhambra palace. (And a good deal of other Moorish architecture in Spain, but that's not the point...) There's no trademark on the Alhambra as far as I know - and certainly the design is very common throughout Andalusia, and I haven't heard of this company suing random Spanish companies...

How long has her line of jewelry been out? And they are just suing now. I think its a little ridiculous. Plus there are no laws about stealing another person's design. I hope everything works out for her.

Wow. Several years ago, I was given a Brighton necklace that has Alhambra clovers as charms. I started wearing it again when I saw the photos of Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Michelle Gellar wearing their VC&A necklaces. The look is very similar. I would think it would be hard for this suit to hold up in court. I would also think that VC&A and Heidi's markets are very different.

Didn't Heidi have a deal with Van Cleef & Arpels a few years back?

Nevermind, I was thinking Mouawad

This article from the NY Times sheds some light on the issue:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/style/tmagazine/21kuczynski.html

It's been a ubiquitous design in religious art and architecture that's not uniquely theirs to lay claim to and I don't think vc&a should have a monopoly on it even if they had introduced their version of it in the 60s especially since they did not originally conceive of the design and one does not automatically associate them with it to begin with. It is, however, very normal for corporations to send out cease & desist letters to everyone they can find and then try to duke it out in court.

Stepping off my soapbox.

i don't get it ...its a four leaf clover how many comapnies use the four leaf clover RIDICULOUS

There is more than one way to portray a four-leaf clover and I don't think that it was necessary for Heidi to use that one design in particular. Honestly, I find that she's completely uncreative and has to resort to stealing others' designs because she cannot come up with her own.

I'm sure that the Alhambra clover has been around for ages and that Van Cleef and Arpels cannot stake a claim in it's conception. However, while other brands have used a similar design in limited-run pieces, VCA is the only brand to use the Alhambra clover design repeatedly and in unique configurations as a signature.

So it's not that Heidi is using the Alhambra clover design in her jewelry collection, it's that she's using it in exceedingly similar configurations as VCA as well as claiming it as a signature.

C'mon now, as long as you're not blind, you know that she didn't pull this collection out of her ass. It's clear that she looked to VCA's Alhambra collection as a great source of "inspiration".

She should really be ashamed of herself. Can anyone BE more unoriginal?

I was wondering how she was getting away with it. She's been selling it for a while now and I couldn't believe a lawsuit hasn't happened already. Plus, the lawsuit is only for $25,000?!?!?! That wont even cover the cost of their legal representation.

as a jewelry designer myself, i am very aware of similar designs, and i always wondered about this...