Lululemon has filed a lawsuit in opposition to Costco that accuses the wholesale membership operator of promoting lower-priced duplicates of a few of its standard athleisure clothes.
Lululemon Athletica claims in its lawsuit filed within the U.S. District Court docket for the Central District of California that Costco has “unlawfully traded” on its status, goodwill and sweat fairness by promoting unauthorized and unlicensed attire that makes use of knockoff, infringing variations of its patents.
Lululemon alleges that Costco is thought to make use of producers of standard branded merchandise for its non-public label Kirkland model, however that the corporate and the producers don’t inform customers of the connection between them for lots of the Kirkland-branded merchandise. Due to this, Lululemon claims this leads a minimum of some consumers to imagine that Kirkland-branded merchandise are made by the genuine provider of the “unique” merchandise. Lululemon claims Costco doesn’t attempt to dispel the paradox.
“As an innovation-led firm that invests considerably within the analysis, growth, and design of our merchandise, we take the accountability of defending and implementing our mental property rights very critically and pursue the suitable authorized motion when mandatory,” a Lululemon firm spokesperson stated in a press release.
A few of the merchandise Lululemon says Costco is making duplicates of are its standard Scuba hoodies, Outline jackets, and ABC pants.
Lululemon claims one of many duplicates that Costco sells is the Hello-Tec Males’s Scuba Full Zip, with the lawsuit exhibiting a screenshot picture of Costco’s web site exhibiting the merchandise priced at $19.97. Lululemon sells a number of males’s jackets that price greater than $100 every.
Costco, based mostly in Issaquah, Washington, didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Tuesday.
Lululemon is requesting a jury trial and desires Costco to cease promoting the merchandise that it considers to be duplicates. It is usually in search of an unspecified quantity in financial damages.
Lulemon was in the same authorized dispute with Peloton in 2021. Two years later the businesses introduced a five-year partnership that included Lululemon turning into the first athletic attire associate to Peloton.