Italian luxury brand Valentino has decided to sue handbag brand Mario Valentino for unfair competition, false advertising and design patent infringement, saying it has seriously affected brand image and value by violating previous coexistence agreements.
Because the names were too similar, the two sides agreed in 1979 that Mario Valentino would not appear as “Valentino”, whether it was a store, a trademark or any promotional marketing campaign that served its peaceful purposes for nearly 40 years, during which time Mario The Valentino brand has found famous fans among Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Catherine Deneuve and a range of Italian actresses, and has collaborated on a series of collaborations.
But Valentino found that Mario Valentino used at least 20 “Valentino” in his recent promotional work and used red in handbag product designs that would confuse consumers.
On June 22, Valentino filed a lawsuit in federal court in California against Mario Valentino and its licensee, Yarch Capital, LLC, alleging that they were engaging in false advertising, unfair competition and design patent infringement for violating the agreement.
According to a new lawsuit filed by Valentino SpA, Mario Valentino and Yarch Capital have “marketed their handbags in packaging and related literature, highlighting bags from ‘Valentino’ and using Valentino’s ‘V’ logo. as their global coexistence agreement prohibits. Mario Valentino violated the agreement to “sell handbags in a variety of ways, resulting in a conceptual confusion among consumers about the two brands,” according to a recent decision by the Milan court centered on the content of the 40-year-old coexistence agreement between the two parties.
