Majors
|
|
|
Rogers, Samuels pull designs amid lawsuit
January 05, 2009
|
| The design of the Sirena Collection "Three Stone" diamond necklace, pictured here in white gold, along with the Sirena "Solitaire" is at the center of a lawsuit between its designer, the Merit Diamond Corp., and retailer chains Rogers Jewelers and Samuels Jewelers. |
|
|
Miami--A judge has issued a restraining order that temporarily bans two Midwest chain retailers from selling or advertising specific pieces of diamond jewelry that Merit Diamond Corp. claims, in a recently filed lawsuit, are copies of its own designs.
On Dec. 29, 2008, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, granted New York-based Merit's request for a temporary restraining order that forced Samuels Jewelers and Rogers Jewelers--both owned by Indian manufacturer and retailer Gitanjali Group--to halt sales of the diamond jewelry designs cited in Merit's copyright lawsuit. The order, which also forced the retailers to pull all catalogs and advertising containing images of the disputed designs, was issued after an attorney for the defendants agreed to halt sales of the pieces in question after the Christmas holiday.
The disputed jewelry items include, but are not limited to, "Samuels' Item Nos. 101648350 and 101648368, and all sizes and colors of the jewelry advertised on [page] 14 of Samuels' and Roger's '08 Holiday Gift Guide as items A, B and C entitled 'Diamond Fashion Pendant' and 'Diamond Fashion Earrings,'" court documents state.
At a hearing held just days before Christmas, on Dec. 22, 2008, an attorney for the defendants said although the defendants "disagree with the plaintiff regarding the merits of the suit," the two retailers agreed to replace catalogs and discontinue sales of the disputed items as of Dec. 26, 2008. The attorney also stated that the "disputed jewelry items are a small number of 600 designs" offered for sale in Rogers and Samuels stores, but that it would cause "substantial harm" for the stores to stop selling the designs before the holiday season was over, court documents state.
Gitanjali USA Chief Executive Officer Nehal Modi reiterated the lawyer's statement, telling National Jeweler that "the lawsuit has no merit whatsoever," and that he plans to "vigorously defend" any litigation.
The temporary restraining order remains in effect until final judgment or dismissal of the case.
Merit began designing the jewelry in question in October 2002, starting with its "Solitaire" pendants featuring one round, brilliant-cut diamond channel-set in a helix with a clockwise turn, a design that the company copyrighted, according to court documents.
In December 2002 or January 2003, Merit followed up with the creation of a series of three-stone diamond pendants similar to the Solitaire, but set with multiple stones and copyrighted as the "Three Stones" pendant.
Both the Solitaire and the Three Stones pendant are part of Merit's "famous and highly successful Sirena Collection," court documents state, a collection that has generated sales of about $100 million to date for Merit, and about $300 million in sales for retailers that carry the collection.
According to court documents, both the Rogers and Samuels chains were among those who profited from sales of the Sirena Collection, early on, with Samuels selling more than $4.5 million worth of jewelry from the collection, and Rogers selling more than $1.2 million during the period between 2004 and 2007.
That all changed, however, shortly after retailer and manufacturer Gitanjali purchased both chains.
According to court documents, "sometime after the defendants stopped buying the 'Sirena Collection' from the plaintiff, defendants began offering for sale and selling copies of the 'Solitaire' pendant and 'Three Stones' pendant, which are substantially similar to plaintiff's copyrighted works."
According to court documents, in Merit's view, "the only variation between plaintiff's copyrighted works and the infringing pendants is that the infringing pendants contain a gold lip at the top of the pendants and the helix is reversed."
This is not the first time Merit has accused a jewelry store of copying designs from the Sirena Collection.
According to court documents, "among other things, plaintiff has successfully obtained injunctive relief from a New York district court enjoining other nationwide retailers from selling copies of plaintiff's 'Three Stone' pendant."
|
|
Majors
A shareholders' class-action lawsuit has been filed against Zale Corp., its chief executive officer and three former executives, claiming the Irving, Texas-based, 1,931-store chain deliberately deceived investors. Read More
|
Small multi video player located on right rail of NJN site
|
Save
E-mail
Print
Most Popular
RSS
Reprints
