DECEMBER 2010

Advertisers Sued For Trademark Infringement For Offering Free Gift With Purchase of Perfume

Last week, Euphoria Chocolate Company sued Calvin Klein and Macy’s for trademark infringement. In December 2010, the defendants allegedly offered Calvin Klein perfume packaged together with a free box of chocolates using the phrase “Euphoria” for sale at Macy’s stores.  A copy of the allegedly infringing use is below:

Euphoria allegedly owns federal and common law trademarks for EUPHORIA, and has used such trademarks in connection with chocolate since 1980.  According to the complaint, the parties commenced negotiations to license the EUPHORIA trademark, but when talks broke down, Calvin Klein and Macy’s allegedly used the phrase “euphoria” anyway.

TIP:  Advertisers should take care when offering a premium in connection with their product to ensure that they have permission to use the trademark associated with such premium, or otherwise use the mark in a manner which does not require permission.  Once you have contacted the third party trademark owner, given that you are now on their radar, you should likely either finalize obtaining their permission or abandon the proposed use. 

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