Dooney & Bourke Granted Summary Judgment in Louis Vuitton Trademark Suit

On May 28, 2008, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted summary judgment to Dooney & Bourke, Inc. on all of Louis Vuitton’s claims, concluding that Louis Vuitton had no adequate factual basis to present either its trademark infringement or dilution claims at a trial. Cravath represented Dooney & Bourke in this trademark infringement and dilution action, which was brought by Louis Vuitton in the Southern District of New York on April 26, 2004, and alleged violations of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125, and New York state law. The complaint alleged that Dooney & Bourke infringed and diluted Louis Vuitton’s multicolored trademark—which consisted of Louis Vuitton’s traditional repeating toile monogram pattern portrayed in 33 “Murakami” colors on a white or a black background. Louis Vuitton sought damages, an injunction, attorneys’ fees and expenses. After a seven-day trial in the summer of 2004, Judge Scheindlin on August 27, 2004, denied Louis Vuitton’s request for a preliminary injunction. After the Second Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part this trial court ruling on June 30, 2006, Louis Vuitton abandoned its motion for preliminary relief to pursue a full pre-trial and trial. On January 15, 2008, at the conclusion of fact and expert discovery and Daubert motions, Dooney & Bourke moved for summary judgment on all claims. The trial court’s grant of summary judgment for defendant Dooney & Bourke on all claims was entered on May 28, 2008.

The Firm lawyers on the summary judgment were partners Douglas D. Broadwater, Roger G. Brooks and Darin P. McAtee; associates Richard Corey Worcester, Jessica L. Selb, James A. A. Cadogan, Kevin K. Cowie, Emily O. Famutimi, Valerie Figueredo, Lindsay R. Goldstein, Sarah E. Trombley and Dashene A. Cooper; and discovery attorneys Jonathan J. Clarke and Miriam Sanchez-Barnes.