Costco should pay Tiffany $5.5m in trademark claim, says jury
Wholesaler Costco should pay luxury jeweller Tiffany $5.5 million in compensation for selling thousands of counterfeit diamond rings.
This is the finding of a jury on September 29 at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The jury added that Tiffany was also entitled to punitive damages, the amount of which will be decided this week.
The trial began on September 20, a year after Judge Laura Swain granted Tiffany’s motion for summary judgment which found Costco liable for counterfeiting and trademark infringement.
The luxury jeweller had sued Costco in February 2013, after receiving information from consumers that the retailer was selling a range of rings under the name Tiffany.
Costco then filed a counterclaim which alleged that the term ‘Tiffany’ had become generic.
Swain rejected Costco’s argument, holding that the retailer had failed to produce any affirmative evidence that demonstrates that ‘Tiffany’ when used as a mark is not strong or that any potential generic use of Tiffany had “undermined the strength of ‘Tiffany’ mark”.
“Costco’s proffer is insufficient to raise an issue of material fact with respect to the actual confusion factor, and Tiffany’s evidence of consumer confusion stands unrebutted,” she added.
Costco said it would not comment because of continuing deliberations by the jury.
Already registered?
Login to your account
If you don't have a login or your access has expired, you will need to purchase a subscription to gain access to this article, including all our online content.
For more information on individual annual subscriptions for full paid access and corporate subscription options please contact us.
To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.
For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk