On Wednesday, representatives for Gucci and Guess confirmed that the two parties, which have been warring in courts across the globe for nearly a decade, have reached an agreement “which will result in the conclusion of all pending intellectual property litigations and trademark office matters worldwide.” The terms of the agreement were not disclosed, per WWD. “The agreement is an important step for both companies in recognizing the significance of protecting their respective intellectual property portfolios and design creativity,” the two companies said in a joint statement.
The settlement comes almost ten years after Gucci accused the comparatively lower-end brand of perpetrating a “massive trademark infringement scheme,” initially filing suit against Guess in 2009 in federal court in New York. In particular, the Italian design house claimed that the interlocking “G” print trademarks that adorn an array of Guess accessories infringe its own “G” print trademarks.
At the culmination of a firey trial, Judge Scheindlin, who presided over the case, awarded Gucci a permanent injunction against Guess's use of three of the four challenged designs at issue, but awarded Gucci only a small fraction of the $221 million damages award it was seeking (a mere $450,000) in that case.
By TFL.
Full story at The Fashion Law.
No comments:
Post a Comment