Gucci sues Guess over designs
Gucci America, the US arm of Italian leathergoods firm Gucci, has told a federal judge that products by US apparel brand Guess? infringe Gucci’s trademarked designs.
US District Judge Shira Scheindlin began conducting a trial without a jury on Gucci’s infringement claim in Manhattan on 29 March, 2012.
Gucci first sued in 2009, claiming that Guess was selling items in stores and online with logos that are “studied imitations of the Gucci trademarks”. The trademarks include a green and red stripe design, a square G, the designer’s name in flowing script and a diamond pattern with repeating interlocking G’s, according to Gucci’s court filings.
“It’s about a massive, complicated scheme to knock off Gucci’s best-known and iconic designs,” Louis Ederer, Gucci’s lawyer, told the judge. The company claims that $221 million worth of Guess products infringed Gucci designs.
Guess said in court papers that Gucci can’t claim infringement because it “sat on its rights” for at least seven years before suing. Guess also said Gucci’s surveys failed to prove that consumers would be misled by the designs.
Daniel Petrocelli, a lawyer for Guess, said in his opening remarks that of 1,495 Guess products Gucci claimed were infringing “could never be confused with Gucci”.
“The numbers don’t add up,” Mr Petrocelli said. “If there was a scheme, it failed miserably.”
He said many Guess products sell for less than $100 and are geared toward young women who can’t afford luxury goods like Gucci’s, which can sell for thousands of dollars. Gucci is seeking monetary damages and other assessments totalling more than $124 million, according to court papers.
The trial is expected to last at least two weeks.
