Update: Louis Vuitton challenger protests against deadline extension request
Shoe designer Antonio Brown has sent an emotive letter to US District Court for the Southern District of New York judge Paul Engelmayer, urging him to deny Louis Vuitton’s request for a 30-day extension of the response deadline in his trademark infringement case against the luxury brand.
On June 30, Brown’s fashion label LVL XIII (pronounced level 13) filed suit against Louis Vuitton for infringing trademarks and trade dress by applying metal name plates to the toes of the footwear in its On the Road line.
The filing gave Louis Vuitton until August 21 to respond to the claim. However, the brand has since asked for a 30-day extension.
In his letter to Engelmayer, seen by WIPR, Brown claims that Louis Vuitton’s attorney Wendi Sloane said that if Brown’s legal team does not give the extension requested, “she will move for it and get it either way”.
He continued: “I am humbly asking you, Mr Engelmayer, to not grant this motion. I do not feel it is right, nor do I believe it is just.”
In an emailed comment to WIPR, he said: “I really appreciate Louis Vuitton as a brand, but the release of their collection compromised the integrity of my brand. The rectangular toe plate was placed on my shoes to make them distinctive in an oversaturated market, and it shocked me that Louis Vuitton duplicated this.
“A giant with unlimited resources is taking the values and integrity my brand was built on away from me.”
Brown has filed for two trademarks that claim the design of applying metal nameplates to the toe and heel of a trainer sole at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Neither of the trademarks has yet been granted.
In the letter, Brown said that attorneys for the USPTO “began to raise issues” with the pending trademarks after he filed the complaint against Louis Vuitton; issues that were not raised at the time of the application.
Brown also suggested in the letter that Louis Vuitton’s conduct had damaged the reputation of his brand.
Louis Vuitton’s “extensive PR and marketing” campaign has created “great confusion in the market place”, he said.
“People began to question if I had collaborated with Louis Vuitton on their new collection or if I was just a copycat—not knowing that I was the originator.”
By the time he had filed his complaint of trademark infringement, buyers were no longer interested in carrying the LVL XIII brand, he said.
“They assumed I had copied Louis Vuitton and felt their consumers would be confused,” he said.
Louis Vuitton did not respond to requests for comment.
