Parody bag maker demands $400k legal fees from ‘trademark bully’ Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton is facing a potential $400,000 legal bill after lawyers representing parody bag company My Other Bag filed a motion at a US court asking it to rule that the case is “exceptional”.
Earlier this month, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected the luxury brand’s complaint that MOB infringed its intellectual property rights.
California-based MOB sells tote bags that on one side state “My Other Bag ...” and on the other have a Louis Vuitton design. The company also sells bags that have other luxury brands' designs on them.
Judge Jesse Furman granted MOB’s motion for summary judgment, advising the luxury brand to “smile and laugh” rather than sue.
But on Friday, January 22, Paul Levy, an attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group, Brian Philpott, a shareholder at law firm Koppel Patrick Heybl & Philpott, and David Korzenik, partner at law firm Miller Korzenik Sommers Rayman, filed a motion requesting that the court find MOB's case “exceptional” under the standard set out in the 2014 Octane Fitness v Icon Health ruling.
In that case, the US Supreme Court ruled that a successful party can be awarded its attorneys’ fees if a case is deemed “exceptional”.
Such a standard applies to a claim that “stands out from others with respect to the substantive strength of a party’s litigation position or the unreasonable manner in which the case was litigated”.
Although that case centred on patents, MOB’s lawyers said the Octane standard should also apply to trademark and copyright disputes.
According to Friday’s motion, the case “had the hallmarks of unreasonable litigation tactics, where a big company sues a tiny one, disregards the governing law, and runs up the costs of the defence”. It added that the luxury brand was acting like a “trademark bully”.
MOB is requesting $398,821 to cover its legal costs.
“The chilling impact of Louis Vuitton’s litigation strategy, not just in this case, but across the board, tells critics, ‘don’t even think about it’. That is an important reason why this company can win even when it loses after filing a meritless claim, and why the court should hold that this suit was exceptional and award defendant its attorney fees,” the lawyers concluded.
