Tiffany & Co., the luxury jewelry company, submitted a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Christian Louboutin SA in the French shoe designer’s trademark battle with Yves St. Laurent America.
Louboutin sued St. Laurent in federal court in Manhattan in April, claiming the use of red shoe soles by St. Laurent infringed its trademark. The trial court rejected the shoemaker’s request to bar St. Laurent shoes with red soles, and Louboutin filed an appeal of that ruling in mid-October.
In that appellate filing, Louboutin noted that the “Keds blue rectangle on the heel, the Burberry plaid, the Gucci stripes all act as trademarks because the consuming public has recognized them as indicators of source.”
New York-based Tiffany, which packages its jewelry items in distinctive robin’s-egg blue boxes, weighed in on Louboutin’s behalf. In its filing, Tiffany noted that it has a registered trademark for its “Tiffany blue” color.
The company argues that the lower court holding that a single color for a fashion item can never be a valid trademark “is not supported” by trademark law.
Tiffany’s brief was filed by Richard Z. Lehv and Jason D. Jones of Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu PC of New York.
The case is Christian Louboutin SA v. Yves St. Laurent America Inc, 11-3303, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
The lower court case is Christian Louboutin SA v. Yves St. Laurent America Inc., 1:11-cv-02381-VM, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
Serta Says Mattress Name Honors Astronomer, Not Fashion Designer
Serta Restokraft Mattress Co Inc.’s Serta unit asked a federal court in Chicago to declare it didn’t infringe trademarks belonging to the late Oleg Cassini, a fashion designer.
Paris-born Cassini, who won fame as the designer of Jacqueline Kennedy’s White House wardrobe, had objected to a mattress Serta made for J.C. Penney Co., according to letters included in the court file. Penney isn’t a party to the suit.
The “Cassini” was one of a series of space-themed model names Serta said it used for its “Perfect Day” mattresses. Among others in the series were the “Gemini,” “Onyx Moon,” “Taurus” and Nebula.” Cassini was chosen to honor both Giovanni Domenico Cassini, a 17th-century French/Italian astronomer, and the National Aeuronautics and Space Administration’s Cassini Solstice Mission.
Oleg Cassini Inc. sent Serta a letter Sept. 13, complaining about the “Cassini” mattress and warning the company it didn’t have permission or a license to use the Cassini name. The mattress company responded Oct. 14, saying it had discontinued the mattress line.
The Cassini company sent a second letter, saying it “does not consider this matter closed” and threatening an infringement suit. It demanded that no Cassini floor samples be offered for sale any longer, and the removal of any link to Serta products that would come up after an Internet search for “Cassini mattresses.”
Serta argued in its court filings that, given the widespread use of its “Perfect Day” trademark, there is “simply no evidence” that consumers would have confused the Cassini mattress with the designer, or his clothing and perfume lines.
It asked the court to declare that it didn’t infringe the trademarks, to order the Cassini company to quit threatening litigation, and for awards of attorney fees, litigation costs, and monetary sanctions against the designer’s company.
read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-15/tiffany-serta-euro-pirate-party-luma-intellectual-property.html
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