Ultimately, the court found that OffWhite Productions’ “sparse factual allegations fail to plausibly allege the foundational element of consumer confusion,” which is significant, as likelihood of confusion “is a necessary element of all three claims” that OffWhite Productions lodged against Off-White: federal trademark infringement and false designation of origin, and common law unfair competition under New York law. In fact, the plaintiff’s complaint “does not allege a single instance in which a consumer evinced confusion between these products, for example, in a written or oral communication to OffWhite.” Still yet, OffWhite Productions “does not plead any facts to support its conclusion that consumers are likely to confuse “the origins of its children’s construction tools, on the one hand, and Off-White’s yellow belt, on the other,” according to the court.
BACKBONE PLM BOULDER REGISTRATION
Instead of making “any reference to branded products or durable consumer goods,” the trademark registration “focuses on OffWhite’s business-to-business marketing and brand consulting services.”
Moreover, the court held that the trademark registration for “OFFWHITE CO.” that OffWhite Productions was granted in December 2014, which it “filed a decade after the alleges OffWhite began producing ‘OFFWHITE’ branded products,” similarly does not “shed light on these products,” which are at the core of the company’s claims against Off-White. At the same time, the plaintiff did not “offer specifics as to any of the ‘innovative consumer products,’ including ‘items such as housewares and toys’ that has ‘most recently’ ‘brought to market’ ‘under the OFFWHITE trademark.’” “Other than its ‘set of functional construction tools,’” OffWhite Productions does not include “any details as to the ‘OFFWHITE branded products’” that it has allegedly offered up since 2004, the Judge asserts.
In response to Off-White’s November 2019 motion to dismiss, which centered largely on its argument that OffWhite Productions’ initial and amended complaints were “intentionally vague” and failed to adequately allege that consumers are likely to confuse Off-White’s goods – including everything from garments and accessories to fragrances and homewares – with those of OffWhite, namely, a “set of functional construction tools designed for children,” Judge Englemayer held this week that OffWhite Productions’ “bare-bones allegations” are not enough. The court’s reason for tossing out the matter in its entirety? OffWhite Productions failed to properly plead an essential element of its trademark case. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the trademark infringement and unfair competition case that OffWhite Productions LLC, a New York-based a multi-disciplinary design and creative agency that does business as OffWhite Co., filed against Virgil Abloh’s fashion brand Off-White in July 2019. In an August 20 decision, Judge Paul Engelmayer of the U.S.
After being accused of hijacking another brand’s name and confusing consumers in the process, Off-White has landed a win.
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