Zale sued over 'Love Rocks' campaign

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Zale sued over 'Love Rocks' campaign

By Michelle Graff

February 17, 2009

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Dallas--A Texas jewelry company is suing Zale Corp., alleging that the jewelry chain's "Love Rocks" advertising campaign infringed upon its trademark.

In the lawsuit, filed on Feb. 11 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, plaintiff Love Rocks by JAGS Ltd. accuses Zale, along with Dallas-based advertising firm The Richards Group and New York-based Love Diamonds LLC, of federal trademark infringement and unfair competition, among other related infractions, according to court documents.

Love Rocks by JAGS Ltd. is asking the court to issue a preliminary injunction to bar Zale and Love Diamonds from further use of "Love Rocks" and to award damages in the case. Zale, which, according to court documents, is alleging that it has the right to use the term "Love Rocks" through a license with Love Diamonds, did not respond to National Jeweler's request for comment.

According to the lawsuit, the phrase "Love Rocks" got its start in June 2007 when Jacquelin Samuels created and designed the Love Rocks by JAGS jewelry concept and began the process of seeking a U.S. trademark for the "Love Rocks by JAGS" logo.

Later in the summer of 2007, a Zale executive from the company's Bailey Banks and Biddle division visited Samuels' office, where she showed him the Love Rocks advertising materials, at which point he said, "This concept is too good for Costco and would be better for a company like Zale," an affidavit signed by Samuels states.

Over the next few months, several other Zale executives visit Samuels' office and, in July 2007, she filed a trademark application for Love Rocks by JAGS, Samuels said in her statement.

After Zale executives passed on an offer to do business with Love Rocks, the company began marketing and selling the jewelry through a partnership with Costco Wholesale Corp. in December 2007, according to court documents.

According to the affidavit, the slogan "Love Rocks" first filtered into the mainstream in December 2007, when the Love Rocks by JAGS line of diamond jewelry launched at Costco. During the following year, 2008, Costco continued marketing and advertising the line, "including print advertisements reaching over 50 million people," court documents state.

A few months later, in October 2008, Zale, aided by advertising firm The Richards Group, "with full knowledge of the Love Rocks concept and trademark, began advertising for its products with the moniker 'Love Rocks,'" the lawsuit claims. The phrase looked "almost identical" to the plaintiff's trademark, according to Samuels' affidavit.

Love Rocks by JAGS claims that Zale's "Love Rocks" campaign, "squarely targeted the same consumers as were being targeted by Love Rocks by JAGS Ltd. through its jewelry line and advertising with Costco," court documents state. "The campaign was developed in conjunction with the Richards Group and shockingly the Richards Group and Zale were even nominated for an advertising award for the Love Rocks advertising campaign!"

In December, the plaintiff sent Zale a cease and desist letter. In response, Zale advised Love Rocks by JAGS Ltd. that it had "license" from a third party, Love Diamonds, to use Love Rocks, court documents state.

According to court documents, Love Diamonds filed for a trademark for "Love Rocks NY," on Aug. 7, 2008. Although the plaintiff claims that the moniker was flagged by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for being too similar to the pending patent application for Love Rocks by JAGS, Love Diamonds claims that it has "prior use" of the phrase, and sent a cease and desist letter of its own to Love Rocks by JAGS.

According to the lawsuit, "Love Rocks by JAGS officially became a registered trademark in January 2009 but, according to court documents, as of Feb. 9, Zale was "still using print advertising in its stores with the term 'Love Rocks,'" with one attorney in the case noting that a Zale commercial running on Dallas radio stations as late as Feb. 9 ended with the words "love rocks."

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