Posts Tagged ‘ handbags ’

Target & Coach Bags Separated at Birth? (perish the thought)

May 19th, 2010. By AbiK

Now I ask you, do these bags look the same? Do they resemble each other? Ok, maybe to both questions—particularly if you’re not in the market for such. But to those who shop handbags, these two bags are as far apart as Melanie Griffith and a natural look.

Never mind that. Coach took Target to task for being a copycat. Not for the bags shown here—those are just illustrative of similar-style bags—to the untrained eye, of course—each company offers (and, they sort of go with our color scheme at LawyersAndSettlements.com).

The design infringement lawsuit was filed last October when Coach got to feeling that Target (and supplier LF USA, owned by supplier-to-all in the industry Li & Fung) was selling handbags that were just a tad too similar in design to Coach bags themselves. Never mind that Target never had a prayer in h#ll of actually reproducing anything remotely Coach-like—according to the filing Target’s bags were “exact and/or confusingly similar reproductions of Coach’s Ergo designs and Signature Patchwork designs.”

Right.

Target customers would’ve confused the bags for possibly being…Coach bags?

A Coach-carrying member of the Town & Country set would now perhaps source her satchel at…Target?

Out of confusion?

I certainly understand the concept of infringement. And, I do realize that Target’s done wonders to bring design to the masses—at a nice price. But seriously.

So Coach Inc. and Target Corp. finally settled their knock-off lawsuit. The terms of the settlement are apparently confidential, but “amicable”—as these things always are…kiss-kiss—oh please—don’t even worry about it! you look fabulous!

Tags: Coach, handbags, Infringement, LF USA, Li & Fung, Target
Posted in Emerging Issues, Intellectual Property | No Comments »