US company rips into H&M in copyright infringement suit

A US-based company has named multinational clothing retailer H&M in a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Urban Textiles filed its claim at the US District Court for the Southern District of California on Friday, November 11.

The US company argued that H&M infringed its copyright, and vicariously and contributorily infringed its copyright, in a “two-dimensional artwork for purposes of textile printing”.

In June this year, the US Copyright Office granted registration for the design, the internal design number of which is UB-4815.

Urban Textiles added that it has “sold fabric bearing the subject design to numerous parties in the fashion and apparel industries”. The US company’s fabric is black and white, with triangle and abstract shapes.

The textile company argued that following distribution of the fabric, H&M created, sold and manufactured and distributed products with an “unauthorised reproduction” of the design.

The unauthorised fabric allegedly featured on the clothing company’s “Divided by H&M” range of clothes. In addition, Urban Textiles argued that H&M infringed its copyright through “(a) access to plaintiff’s showroom, (b) access to illegally distributed copies of the subject design by third-party vendors, (c) access to plaintiff’s strike-offs and samples, and (d) garments manufactured and sold to the public bearing fabric lawfully printed with the subject design by plaintiff for its customers”.

Urban Textiles is asking for all profits, statutory damages, pre-judgment interest, costs of bringing the action, attorneys’ fees and a trial by jury.

A spokesperson for H&M told WIPR that they are not able to go into details, as they do not comment on pending legal processes.

Scott Alan Burroughs, partner at law firm Doniger Burroughs, and one of the lawyers acting on behalf of Urban Textiles, said: "Urban Textiles had to file this lawsuit in order to protect its rights in one of its proprietary fabric designs."

He added that Urban Textiles' designs are of the "utmost importance" to the company and "when a large corporate retailer like H&M exploits such a design without permission, it causes significant damage to the company".

"And H&M is no stranger to copyright disputes, as a number of other design companies have recently leveled similar claims against the retailer," said Burroughs.

H&M was founded in 1947.