In 1970, the French designer Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) created and successfully marketed a long black sleeveless tuxedo-like evening dress, which the YSL fashion house reintroduced in their 1992 collection. Upon learning that Ralph Lauren was selling a similar version of the dress in their 1992 collection, YSL brought suit against Ralph Lauren under the theories of copyright infringement, design infringement and unfair competition.

In May 1994, the court in Paris decided in favor of YSL and agreed that YSL owned the 1970 dress design under the law on Designs and Models and also considered the dress design an original copyrighted creation. The court awarded YSL damages in the amount of FFr 2 million, half of which consisted of damages for copyright infringement and half of which was for damages resulting from unfair competition.

Although legal proceedings under copyright, design and unfair competition laws against fashion counterfeiting are not new in France, in particular by the major fashion houses against lower-end counterfeiters, this case is noteworthy because it pitted two major designers against one another, a relatively rare occurrence. The damage award is also considered significant for a claim of this type.