Deckers Outdoor Corporation has settled its lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against Maui and Sons, Asia Direct, and Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation.
Deckers' patent, trade dress, and copyright infringement complaint alleged that Asia Direct imported and sold product that infringed Deckers' US Patent No. 4,793,075, trade dress for its Teva sandals, and copyrights for fabric designs on the sandals. Asia Direct placed Maui and Sons' logo on the infringing product and then sold it to Big 5 Sporting Goods for retail sale.
Asia Direct, Big 5, and Maui acknowledged the validity, enforceability, and infringement of Deckers' US patent, trade dress, and copyrights, agreed to pay a confidential amount in settlement, and agreed to an injunction that prohibits making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing any of the infringing products in the US.
“The strength of our brands relies on our consistent ability to bring high-quality, innovative products to the market. Knock-off products do not carry the same quality as genuine Deckers products thus confusing our consumers and cheating our retailers,” says Angel Martinez, CEO and President of Deckers Outdoor Corporation. “We continue to take all violations of our intellectual property rights very seriously and those who wish to infringe upon our trade dress, trademarks, copyrights, and patents of all our brands UGG Australia, Teva and Simple Shoes will be met with legal action,” says Mr. Martinez.
