Ivanka Trump brand settles trademark lawsuit over copied fabric

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
Oct 18, 2017

Ivanka Trump's clothing company has settled a trademark infringement suit over its alleged copying of a trademarked Unicolors fabric in a jacket which was subsequently sold at TJMaxx.

Unicolors, a textile converter based in LA, sued Ivanka Trump's brand in California federal court earlier this year as well as parent company G-III Apparel. Unicolors alleged Ivanka Trump's brand obtained swatches of its trademarked print and made only slight changes to it before going into production with it.

The Ivanka Trump jacket using the fabric in question was selling well at TJMaxx, leading Unicolors to argue that it was losing money.

Unicolors actively protects its trademarks and currently has 40 similar lawsuits in court pertaining to the same textile, with a total of 200 cases in litigation in California over its designs at this moment in time. While the Ivanka Trump brand disparaged the impetus of the lawsuit as "characteristic" of Unicolors business strategy, under US law the owners of intellectual property are perfectly within their rights to take such cases to court.

The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed. Regardless, it may be considered a stumbling block for the Ivanka Trump brand as it looks ahead to its larger copyright infringement case against Aquazurra over fringed red sandals.

While Ivanka Trump tried to avoid being called to depose in the Aquazurra case, citing her new role as a White House Advisor, the federal judge presiding ordered a deposition was necessary to obtain more evidence in the case. The Aquazurra case is currently set for trial in March.