Los Angeles Intellectual Property Trademark Attorney Blog
Los Angeles, CA – Harkham Industries, Inc. filed a copyright infringement lawsuit, in the Central District Of California (Los Angeles Division), against Bizz, Inc. and Modcloth, Inc. Harkham designs and manufactures women’s apparel and its art department creates prints and designs which are applied to fabrics. In April of 2006, Plaintiff allegedly created an original work of art which it titled the “Shadow Fern” design. Plaintiff immediately registered its design with the US Copyright Office. Plaintiff applied the design to two dresses and tops, which are sold at high end retailers for approximately $200.00 a piece.
In March of 2009, Plaintiff discovered that Modcloth was selling an allegedly infringing garment under the name “After the Rain Dress” pictured herein. Plaintiff’s lawyer sent a cease and desist letter to Modcloth and was informed that the source of the garment was Bizz, dba Ark & Co. Plaintiff’s lawyer sent two letters to Bizz, but allegedly received no response. Thus, Plaintiff filed suit and now seeks either actual or statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. § 504, in addition to its costs of the lawsuit and reasonable attorneys’ fees pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 505. The case is Harkham Industries, Inc. v. Bizz, Inc. et al., CV09-02970 VBF (C.D. Cal. 2009).