Cartier takes on jewellers over TM infringement
Cartier has accused two Florida-based jewellers of trademark and trade dress infringement and unfair competition.
The luxury jewellery brand filed complaints against the jewellers at the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Tuesday, March 27.
One claim accused Nemaro Jewelers of imitating Cartier’s trademarked designs, which Nemaro is allegedly “well aware of but chooses to blatantly disregard”.
The other suit made the same allegations in relation to Advance Jewelery, which is also allegedly producing counterfeit Cartier products.
One of Cartier’s most “sought-after” lines of jewellery is the Love collection, according to the claims. Each Love product has the “distinctive appearance of a flat metal band” and a unique diamond design.
Cartier owns the unique ‘Love’ design for rings and other jewellery (US trademark number (1,005,286) and the word mark ‘Love bracelet’ (US trademark number 3,776,794). The word mark ‘Cartier’ is registered under US trademark number 759,202 for articles of jewellery.
According to the Nemaro complaint, Nemaro manufactures and sells various items which bear imitations of the Love collection’s trade dress and the ‘Love’ marks, including bracelets, necklaces, and rings.
Cartier said Nemaro’s sale of the infringing products “unlawfully wrests from Cartier control over its reputation” and the trade dress of the infringing products is likely to cause consumer confusion.
In the second complaint, Cartier said Advance also makes and sells jewellery featuring both the ‘Love’ mark and the ‘Cartier’ mark. Advance allegedly packages the Love items in boxes reflecting Cartier’s proprietary “iconic” red box design (US number 4,197,020).
A Cartier agent reportedly visited the stores in November last year to confirm the infringements.
The luxury jewellery designer has asked the court to permanently both jewellers and has requested statutory damages. Cartier is also seeking triple damages and legal costs in both lawsuits.
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