Fashion Apparel Law Blog : Fashion Apparel Law Lawyer & Attorney : Sheppard Mullin Law Firm : Fashion Legal Issues

WWD announced on February 16, 2010 that Chanel has continued its tradition of working with the world's most prominent movie directors by announcing its collaboration with Academy Award winning director Martin Scorsese to direct the television commercial for its newest Men's fragrance. The advertisements were filmed in New York and feature actor Gaspard Ulliel. Robert Darwell of Sheppard Mullin represented Chanel in this matter."

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Sheppard Mullin congratulates our clients and friends Janie Bryant and Doug Hall, who won awards for excellence in film and television at the 2010 Costume Guild Awards held February 25, 2010. Janie Bryant won for her work on the Mad Men television series and Doug Hall won the contemporary film award for his work on Crazy Heart. Congratulations to both!

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In Fendi Adele S.R.L. v. Burlington Coat Factory, No. 06 Civ. 85 (LBS), 2010 WL 431509 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 8, 2010), the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, in light of the prior 1987 injunction prohibiting defendant Burlington Coat Factory ("Burlington") from selling counterfeit Fendi products in its stores, recently held that the continued sale of counterfeit handbags featuring the trademarks of plaintiff Fendi Adele S.R.L. ("Fendi") violated the prior order, was in contempt of the district court's prior order, and awarded treble damages against Burlington. This decision provides yet another reminder of how courts have dealt harshly with retail vendors who have willfully purchased and sold counterfeit goods, especially where there was a prior injunction against violation of the Fendi trademarks.
 

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Two recent cases highlight the issues faced when seeking an award for willful damages in trademark infringement cases involving counterfeit goods. Burberry brought an action against Designers Imports ("Designers") in 2007 (the "Designers Action") for selling counterfeit Burberry goods, featuring the Burberry name, the Burberry Check design and the Burberry “Equestrian Knight” on horseback (collectively, the “Burberry Marks”). Burberry also brought suit in 2008 against Euro Moda, Inc., Moda Oggi, Inc., and John Fanning (collectively, “Euro Moda”) for selling counterfeit scarves, hats, clothes, and handbags bearing the Burberry Marks (the "Euro Moda Action"). The Courts awarded Burberry $1.5 million in damages in the Designers Action and $4 million in the Euro Moda Action, each of which was considerably less than the statutory maximum, which was what Burberry sought in each case.
 

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Since the proliferation of the internet and online advertising, trademark owners have sought to prevent  the unauthorized use of their marks as keywords for online advertising on search engines. In the Second Circuit before 2009, trademark owners had difficulty protecting their marks where the competitor's link simply shows up as "Sponsored Link" on the landing page, and no other use of the mark has been made, because of the decision in 1-800 Contacts, Inc. v. WhenU.com, Inc., 414 F.3d 400 (2d Cir. 2005), which held that no Lanham Act "use", and, thus, no actionable Lanham Act claim, exists for the use of a trademark in a keyword or metatag, where (a) the defendant does not place the trademark on any product, good or service, (b) it is not used in any way that would indicate source of origin, and (c) where defendant's use of plaintiff's trademark is strictly internal and not communicated to the public, as the use does not indicate the source or origin of the product. 
 

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Partner, Bob Darwell will be speaking at Fashion Week in Milan on March 2nd, 2010.

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Partner, Ted Max spoke at the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts on Feb 2, 2010.

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