DSW Inc. filed a lawsuit in an Ohio federal court charging Zappos.com Inc. with misuse of DSW service marks. The suit alleges that “DSW” is being used in multiple URLs by Zappos.com along with DSW store photographs in an effort to mislead consumers into believing they were on a DSW-related website. The site then links customers to the Zappos.com site, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, in Columbus.
DSW opened its e-commerce site, DSW.com, on April 21 in a soft launch and plans a formal launch in coming weeks. The suit seeks an injunction and damages resulting from the misuse of those marks.
“We intend to rigorously defend and protect our intellectual property and our brand against any sort of misuse,” said Bill Jordan, senior vice president and general counsel at DSW, in a statement. “It is unacceptable and we will not hesitate to pursue our legal rights in matters of this sort.”
Zappos said, in a statement, “We were surprised to find out through a press release that DSW filed a lawsuit against Zappos.com. We are currently reviewing the complaint and do not have additional comments at this time.”
