Sports apparel company sues retailer for its use of a three-stripe design.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Adidas is suing Forever 21 for using a three-stripe design, which is trademarked.
The case was recently filed in the Federal court in Portland.
Forever 21 and Central Mills “intentionally adopted and used counterfeit and/or confusingly similar imitations of the Three-Stripe Mark knowing that they would mislead and deceive consumers into believing that the apparel was produced, authorized, or licensed by adidas, or that the apparel originated from adidas,” the lawsuit says.
While the lawsuit refers to unauthorized “products” using three stripes design, it does not specify what items of clothing may be infringing. However, a photograph included in the document does: A long-sleeve shirt featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with three stripes extending from the collar down the sleeves; and another shirt, featuring Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat and the Tasmanian Devil, again displaying the three-stripe sleeve motif.
(SOURCE: OregonLive.com)
Adidas retained Perkins Coie LLP for its legal representation in the case.
Adidas seeks a court order to stop the sale of the apparel as well as damages.
Trademark lawsuits are common in the apparel industry. Last year Nike made headlines when it sued 31 companies over alleged Chuck Taylor knockoffs.
(SOURCE: Portland Business Journal)
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