Coach is the latest handbag brand getting litigious in efforts to protect its creative property. The American fashion house is suing Jo-Ann Fabrics for trademark infringement.
Coach says that Jo-Ann Fabrics’ Blizzard Fleece fabric, which is decorated with elongated letter Os, is too similar to its C decorated signature print. It adds that the likenesses between the two prints will create “consumer confusion.” As a result it’s charging Jo-Ann Fabrics with trade dress and copyright infringement, trademark counterfeiting, false designation of origin, false advertising, and trademark dilution.
It might sound like an O would be easily distinguished from a C, but when they’re all smooshed together it does get a bit confusing. But still, would anyone really be taken in thinking this is a Coach-made material? Last I knew the designer label wasn’t dabbling in fleece.
Coach is seeking statutory damages of around $2 million per counterfeit mark and per type of counterfeit good, plus punitive damages, attorney fees, an injunction, and other assorted costs. That’s bound to amount to a whole lot of cash, the kind of sum that could put a company trading in fleece out of business. Do you think Jo-Ann Fabrics has a case to answer for?
