Tiffany sues Costco over sales of engagement rings | Reuters

Tiffany Co (TIF. N) sued Costco At wholesale prices Corp (COST. O) about Thursday to stop thelargest Oughout. S. warehouse club cycle from marketing what it referred to as counterfeit diamondengagement bands bearing the luxurious retailer's name.

The brand lawsuit registered in New york federal the courtroom also telephone calls on Costco tosurrender profits from your ring revenue, plus damages of $2 million for each infringement.

Tiffany said that believes lots, if not thousands, of Costco members purchased engagement ringsthey considered were genuine Tiffany products but in truth were not.

Luxury retailers often sue to halt sales associated with alleged fake products they believe cut intotheir own revenue streams in addition to customer information.

"This is not the kind of behavior individuals expect from your company just like Costco, which casewill certainly shed a far needed lighting on this excessive behavior, inches said Jeffrey Mitchell, anattorney for Jewelry.

Mitchell furthermore noted in the statement that Tiffany preserves an "aggressive and rigorousintellectual house program, plus regularly takes actions in opposition to counterfeiters in addition toinfringers. inch

A new spokesman for Costco had not been immediately available.

In November 2012, a person who was shopping at a Costco in Huntington Beach, Calif., complainedto be able to Tiffany that will she has been disappointed to find out Costco offering for sale just whatwere promoted on in-store signs since Tiffany diamonds engagement jewelry, according to the legalaction.

A subsequent exploration revealed rings in a display case on the Huntington Seashore Costco taggedwith the Jewelry brand and that a salesperson right now there referred to all of them as Tiffany ringswhen they were not, based on the lawsuit. Tiffany also found that Costco had not been using theTiffany trademarks on-line for the same goods at the same time to avoid detection, based on thelawsuit.

The case is Jewelry Organization and Tiffany (NJ) LLC v. Costco Wholesale Corp, U. T. DistrictCourtroom, Southern Region of New You are able to, 13-1041

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel inside New York; Enhancing by Gary Hill, Kenneth Barry in additionto Andre Grenon)

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