Levi Strauss & Co has sued the French luxury house Kenzo, accusing the LVMH unit of trademark infringement for putting tabs on its pants pockets. This includes a brand new clothing line featuring popstar-Britney Spears.
The complaint was filed with the US District Court in San Francisco, the same city where the base of the delectable denim chain’s headquarters can be found. Levi claims that Kenzo’s activities threaten to cause them to lose sales and suffer “incalculable and irreparable damage” to its goodwill, which in turn will confuse their client base.
Kenzo did not immediately respond to requests for comments on the matter as they were made after business hours, therefore a lawyer for the Paris-based company was unable to be located straight away.
Levi argues that they have always put distinctive tabs on their garments where the label name can be clearly seen by consumers. These are in the form of folded cloth ribbons, placed in the seams of their pants pockets and has been done since 1936, in order to provide “sight identification” for their products.
They also claim that Kenzo has not complied with its cease-and-desist letters to stop selling its own clothing bearing similar tabs and includes the “Kenzo presents Britney Spears-La Collection Memento No. 2” line launched last month.
The complaint quoted Leo Christopher Lucier-Levi’s national sales manager in 1936, as having said “no other maker of overalls can have any other purpose in putting a coloured tab on an outside patch pocket, unless for the express and sole purpose of copying our mark, and confusing the customer.”
Levi is seeking to recoup lost profits, compensatory and punitive damages, and to halt further infringements.
