Lululemon is almost literally looking to sue the pants off Costco.
In a lawsuit filed Friday, the Canada-based athleisurewear company claimed Costco was violating its patents by selling “knockoff” versions of its pants, as well as its hoodies and jackets.
“Costco has unlawfully traded upon Plaintiffs’ reputation, goodwill and sweat equity by selling unauthorized and unlicensed apparel employing knockoff, infringing versions of Plaintiffs’ well-known trade dress and design patents (the “Infringing Products”) and to recover fully for the monetary damages and significant harm to lululemon’s brands and reputation caused by Defendant,” reads a portion of the lawsuit.
Lululemon’s lawsuit specifically accused Costco of selling items that infringed on the design of its ABC line of pants, its Define line of jackets, and its Scuba line of zip-ups and hoodies.
Lululemon also argues that Costco may be intentionally trying to “confuse” customers into believing Lululemon was supplying the clothing to Costco for sale under the latter’s “private label.”
In addition to forcing Costco to stop selling the alleged “knockoffs” or “dupes” (as the lawsuit refers to them), Lululemon is seeking unspecified monetary damages.
A representative for Costco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lululemon’s lawsuit also comes after articles in the Washington Post and The New York Times (both of which are cited in the court docs) reported on the similarities between Lululemon’s products and Costco’s offerings. In WaPo’s article, which was published in January, the author noted that social media users were alerting followers to the Lululemon “dupes” on their accounts.
“People just eat it up,” one of them told the outlet.
In the NY Times article, published in April, the author pointed out several similarities between the ABC pants and the Kirkland (Costco) version, but ultimately found that Lululemon’s were “more thoughtfully designed.”
Even still, Lululemon seems intent to show Costco who wears the pants in the athleisure retail world.
“We take the responsibility of protecting and enforcing our intellectual property rights very seriously and pursue the appropriate legal action when necessary,” a Lululemon spokesperson told Reuters.
