Jeans firm: rival brand against our Religion

Fashionable denim dealer True Religion has launched a trademark suit against the in-store jeans brand sold by branches of Sam’s Club, the warehouse merchandise division of a leading US retail chain. With style signatures that develop from the pocket stitches and belt-labels of other jeans brands, True Religion garments feature elaborate seams and embroidered designs. In its legal papers, publicised on 21 April, the firm accused the Sam’s Club efforts of having too many similarities – effectively, of passing off:

‘It is noteworthy that most, if not all, of the infringing items [listed in these papers] were presented in a confusingly deceptive manner. They are of obvious inferior quality when compared to authentic True Religion product and they are priced in such a way that the implication to the buying public is that the items are indeed genuine.’

Viewed by fashion observers as a classy brand that blends streetwise fabric with high style, True Religion has gained exposure through the famous faces that wear it, such as footballer David Beckham and actress Angelina Jolie. Following a counterfeit case of 2005, CEO Jeff Lubell made an announcement that industry insiders saw as a statement of IP policy:

‘True Religion Apparel is taking an aggressive stance to protect our trademark and other intellectual properties,’ he said. ‘Our brand is extremely important to the value of our business and we will work hard to protect it against those who infringe upon our company. It is our mission to ensure that our products are sold only by our authorised dealers and that our customers receive authentic True Religion goods of the highest quality and fit.’