The following article was originally published in The Daily Record, Rochester, N.Y., a sister publication.
What would a woman do without her handbag or purse? This is what the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit noted in a trademark infringement case involving Louis Vuitton handbags when it wrote: We cannot help but observe that for the person carrying it, a handbag may serve as a practical container of needed items, a fashion statement, or a reflection of its owner's personality; it may fairly be said that in many cases a handbag is so essential that its owner would be lost without it.
MLB-Jerseys For companies such as Louis Vuitton, handbags are a multi- million dollar industry. In Louis Vuitton Malletier vs. Dooney & Burke Inc., the 2nd Circuit concluded that the district court erred when it denied Louis Vuitton's motion for a preliminary injunction against Dooney & Bourke, Inc., which produces a purse known as the It-Bag. The circuit court determined the district court's analysis did not accurately reflect the actual market conditions in which both parties' handbags were sold. Therefore, the 2nd Circuit remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings.
At the center of the case are handbags manufactured and sold by the plaintiff, Louis Vuitton Malletier, and the defendant, Dooney & Bourke.
Louis Vuitton, a French fashion design firm, is known for its toile monogram designs that feature entwined LV initials with three motifs: a curved diamond with a four-point star inset, its negative, and a circle with a four-leafed flower inset. The toile designs were first introduced in France in 1896, and are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
In October 2002, the company introduced a collection of handbag designs that feature a multicolore pattern or mark. The new multicolored handbags contained a modified version of the toile marks and were printed in 33 bright colors on either a white or black background. The multicolore mark is currently unregistered. The handbags have appeared on television programs like CBS's The Early Show, as well as in newspapers and magazines, such as USA Today, The New York Times and People.
smet Louis Vuitton contends Dooney & Bourke is infringing on its multicolore trademark through the sale of a similar looking line of handbags known as the It-Bag. The It-Bag features a DB monogram of interlocking initials in an array of bright colors set against a white background.
Dooney & Bourke's purses cost between $125 and $400; this is in stark contrast to the multicolore handbags and accessories by Louis Vuitton that typically cost between $360 and $3,950.
In April 2004, Louis Vuitton filed a lawsuit in federal court, in which it alleged that Dooney & Bourke infringed on its trademark in violation of the Lanham Act.
Louis Vuitton asserted federal and state claims of unfair competition and false designation, and trademark dilution. While the company does not claim a trademark to the overall look of its handbags and states that other manufacturers have a right to create their own brightly-colored handbags, it does seek to protect others from producing handbags that incorporate a similar multicolore mark and design pattern.
While the case was being litigated, Louis Vuitton sought a preliminary injunction. In August 2004, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied the company's motion, holding that it was unlikely that consumers would confuse Louis Vuitton's multicolore mark with Dooney & Bou
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