Lululemon Sues Over Counterfeit Yoga Pants

Canadian athletic apparel giant, Lululemon Athletica Inc. (“Lululemon”), recently filed a lawsuit against California-based Ross Stores Inc. (“Ross”) and one of its suppliers, Impulse Off Price Apparel (“IOPA”), for allegedly selling low-quality, counterfeit versions of its popular leggings.

According to the lawsuit, Ross customers bought the counterfeit leggings for as little as $7.99 each. The items bore Lululemon’s trademarked logo and attached tags that mimic the company’s notable “Designed in Vancouver” tags.

The suit makes claims of trademark infringement, counterfeiting, and unfair competition and cites “evidence of actual consumer confusion”. Ross and IOPA allegedly “distributed and sold at least thousands of counterfeit Lululemon products to consumers and retailers” and were either aware of or wilfully blind to the lack of authenticity of the products. Lululemon claims that, as a result of the counterfeit sales, the goodwill associated with its brand has been significantly harmed.

Lululemon is seeking an order that Ross and IOPA be restrained from counterfeiting Lululemon’s marks, the destruction of any products that infringe on its marks, and damages and profits attributable to the counterfeit sales.

Authors: Larissa Fulop and Nargis Fazli