NEW YORK – McKool Smith today announced that a federal district judge in New York has entered a Final Judgment and Order incorporating a jury verdict and award of punitive damages against Liz Claiborne Inc. (NYSE: LIZ) and its subsidiary Lucky Brand Dungarees Inc. in a hotly-contested trademark infringement dispute with Marcel Fashion Group’s “Get Lucky” apparel line.
The Final Judgment, signed by Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, follows the April jury verdict in favor of Marcel Fashion after jurors found that Los Angeles-based Lucky Brand’s use of the well-known “Lucky Brand” trademark, as well as its use of “Lucky” and “Get Lucky,” infringed Marcel Fashion’s GET LUCKY trademark and violated federal unfair competition laws.
The jury’s verdict and the court’s Final Judgment turned the tables on Lucky Brand and Liz Claiborne, which were the parties that originally brought the suit against Marcel Fashion and its licensee, Ally Apparel, for trademark infringement in 2005 over their GET LUCKY line of apparel. The jury cleared the GET LUCKY line of any trademark infringement because Marcel Fashion had used the trademark “GET LUCKY” continuously since 1985, years before Lucky Brand was even formed.
“This is a complete victory for the little guy,” says Ezra Mizrachi, President of Marcel Fashion. "Lucky Brand and Liz Claiborne tried to put the GET LUCKY apparel line out of business with this lawsuit, but instead, the jury decided that they are the ones who committed trademark infringement.”
Under the terms of the Final Judgment, Liz Claiborne and Lucky Brand must pay $300,000 to Marcel Fashion, which includes a punitive damages award of $280,000, nearly the entire amount of the award.
The punitive damages award follows on the heels of the Court’s award of sanctions against Lucky Brand and Liz Claiborne for their repeated and flagrant discovery violations during the litigation.
The case is Lucky Brand Dungarees Inc., et al. v. Ally Apparel Resources LLC, et al., No. 1:05-cv-06757.
With more than 130 litigators working as an integrated team across offices in New York, Washington, D.C. and Texas, McKool Smith has established a reputation as one of America’s leading trial firms. The firm has been recognized by The National Law Journal and VerdictSearch for winning more Top 100 verdicts than any other U.S. law firm during the past three years. McKool Smith represents leading clients across a broad range of practice areas, including complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy, and white collar defense.