August 16,2019:
Dr Martens filed a case of trademark infringement against three famous online fashion retailers that are Boohoo, NastyGal and Pretty Little Things (PLT) infringed the styles of Dr Martens’s footwear.
AirWair the parent company of Dr Martens filed a lawsuit on July 16 at the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiff made allegations of trademark infringement and dilution, trade dress infringement, unfair competition against the three defendants. Further, it alleged breach of contract against Pretty Little Things.
The legal term trade dress refers to the general appearance of a product or its packaging that reveals its source to customers, it causes confusion. To succeed on a claim of trade dress infringement based on a product’s design, a plaintiff must show that their design is non-functional and has acquired a secondary meaning. It should be confusingly similar to the allegedly infringing design. When the integrity of a famous trademark is muddied by an unwanted or insulting commercial association it amounts to trademark dilution. Breaching a contract occurs when one party fails to deliver in the appropriate time frame and does not meet the terms of the agreement.
Dr Marten's (AirWair International Ltd.) is a famous footwear company and has complained against the three defendants of copying and infringing the trade dress and trademarks of the designs of shoes of Dr Martens. Nasty Gal, Boohoo and Pretty Little Things are all fashion retailers based on America and the United Kingdom.
According to the complaint, the defendant copied several designs of the products of the plaintiff. Some of the designs are namely 1460 Vonda Boot, Jason, Jane and 1460 boots. The 1460 boot features a two-toned grooved sole edge, yellow stitching in the welt area of the sole and a black fabric heel loop.
The plaintiff claimed that the infringement started in 2016. Thereafter, AirWair sent many cease and desist letters but the defendant was reluctant to take any action. It said it had entered into a settlement agreement with PLT in 2017, but this had been breached by the alleged infringement. The present lawsuit says that four styles of allegedly infringing shoes are sold by both Boohoo and PLT on their websites and two sold by Nasty Gal.
The plaintiff stated that their brands earned goodwill and reputation through toils and moils of years. AirWair complained that boots of both parties are deceptively similar and it caused commercial damages to their company. Therefore, AirWair asked the court to grant it a permanent injunction from barring the defendants to sell the impugned shoes. The plaintiff claimed monetary damages of up to $1,000,000 per counterfeit mark against the three retailers.
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