Judge: Costco must pay Tiffany $19.4 million for advertising knock-off rings

Judge: Costco must pay Tiffany $19.4 million for advertising knock-off rings

By Kevin McCoy

Tiffany has beaten Costco to the tune of at least $19.4 million in a trademark infringement battle over alleged knock-off rings that pitted the luxury jeweler against the membership warehouse giant.

Costco must pay the financial damages for its years-long practice of selling rings with signs that said “Tiffany” without any modifiers to indicate the items were not made by the world-famed New York City jewelry company, a  judge ruled Monday.

In all, Costco owes Tiffany $11.1 million, three times the estimated profit the Issaquah, Wa.-based company made on sales of the rings, U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain wrote in a 17-page decision. She also ordered Costco to pay $8.25 million in legal damages and issued a permanent injunction that bars the company from using the Tiffany name.

Tiffany initially sued Costco in a Valentines Day 2013 trademark infringement and counterfeiting lawsuit. The lawsuit charged that a consumer shopping in Costco's Huntington Beach, Calif., warehouse complained that “Costco was offering for sale what were promoted on in-store signs as Tiffany diamond engagement rings.”

Read full article and learn more about Trademark Infringement here.

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Disclaimer:  This article is provided for informational purposes only. It’s not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Neither the author nor FTC Guardian, Inc. is endorsed by the Federal Trade Commission.

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