Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
Lafayette, Indiana – Intellectual property lawyers for Coach, Inc. and Coach Services, Inc., both of New York, NY, have filed an infringement suit alleging Diggz Clothing, LLC of Lafayette, IN, has infringed numerous COACH trademarks which have been registered with the U.S. Trademark Office, copyrighted design elements, and product trade dress.
The plaintiff, which is a well-known retailer of leather goods including handbags, luggage, and accessories, asserts that the defendant, a distributor of novelty-type goods, is offering products bearing source-identifying indicia and design elements which are “studied imitations” of the plaintiffs’ intellectual property. Identical to others filed by the plaintiff, the complaint claims trade dress rights in the distinctive product shapes, colors, designs, fabrics, and other non-function elements which are incorporated into their products while including a cause of action for counterfeiting under the federal Lanham Act.
This case has been assigned to Judge Robert Miller, Jr and Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry in the Northern District of Indiana, and assigned case no. 4:10-cv-00023-RLM-PRC.
Practice Tip: To recover for product design (as opposed to packaging) trade dress infringement under § 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15, U.S.C. §1125(a), a plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that its trade dress has obtained “secondary meaning” (association in the minds of consumers) in the marketplace; that its trade dress and that of a competing product are confusingly similar; and that the relevant features of the trade dress are primarily nonfunctional.Complaint – Coach v. Diggz
Further information about this case is as follows:
Filed: March 4, 2010 as 4:2010cv00023 Updated: April 1, 2010 21:07:12
Plaintiffs: Coach Inc and Coach Services Inc
Defendant: Diggz Clothing LLC
Presiding Judge: Judge Robert L Miller Jr
Referring Judge: Magistrate Judge Paul R Cherry
Cause Of Action: Trademark Infringement
Court: Seventh Circuit > Indiana > Northern District Court
Type: Intellectual Property > Trademark