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David Yurman’s legal row with Sam’s Club could grow
David Yurman has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Sam’s Club of selling its jewelry without authorization and it might take legal action against the retailers that provided the jewelry to Sam’s Club as well, the company said Tuesday.
David Yurman jewelry is sold via a “carefully selected network of authorized retailers, consisting of specialty stores and high-end department stores” that doesn’t include Sam’s Club’s warehouse-style locations, the brand says in a lawsuit.
Houston--David Yurman has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Sam’s Club of selling its jewelry without authorization and it might take legal action against the retailers that provided the jewelry to Sam’s Club as well, the company said Tuesday.
In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Houston, David Yurman Enterprises LLC and David Yurman IP LLC accuses Sam’s Club East Inc. and Sam’s Club West Inc. of trademark infringement as well as unfair competition, false designation of origin and tortious interference.
The suit alleges that Sam’s Club “intentionally sought out, directly or indirectly, and purchased David Yurman jewelry products from one or more of Yurman’s authorized retailers” and is advertising, promoting and selling the jewelry in its warehouse-style stores using the David Yurman trademark and point-of-sale materials even though it is not an authorized Yurman retailer, court papers state.
Phillips Nazro, vice president and general counsel for David Yurman, said the company first learned its jewelry was being sold at Sam’s Club in June--the lawsuit notes that several authorized Yurman retailers complained to the company about Sam’s Club carrying the brand--and began an investigation that led to last week’s filing.
The jewelry brand has asked Sam’s Club to stop carrying its pieces and identify the retailer, or retailers, from which it obtained the jewelry, but Sam’s Club “has refused to do so,” court papers state. Retailers that are authorized to carry David Yurman sign an agreement stating that they will only sell the brand’s jewelry at the location, or locations, designated in the agreement. It also prohibits the transshipment, diversion or transfer of David Yurman products to any other party.
When asked if David Yurman intends to take legal action against these retailers when it learns their identities, Nazro said, “David Yurman takes these issues very seriously, and will pursue any unauthorized sales of its products in order to protect the integrity of the David Yurman brand.”
Most of the alleged unauthorized selling is taking place at Sam’s Club stores in the Houston area including five stores in Harris County, one in Fort Bend County and one in Montgomery County, as well as online, according to the lawsuit.
Though Sam’s Club did not respond to request for comment on the lawsuit by press time, the search function of SamsClub.com did not yield any results for “David Yurman” Monday, and it is not among the
jewelry brands listed on the site.
David Yurman states in the suit that it seeks monetary damages in the case as well as a court order permanently banning Sam’s Club from acquiring, advertising and selling its jewelry.
“Our company very carefully controls the retail distribution of our merchandise to ensure that David Yurman jewelry and timepieces are available at only the finest jewelry and department stores, consistent with the image and goodwill of the David Yurman brand that our founders, the Yurman’s, have worked so hard over the years to build,” Nazro said in a statement provided by the company.
RELATED CONTENT: Alex and Ani’s fraud suit allowed to proceed
This is the second such suit leveled against a wholesale club-type retailer recently. Jewelry brand Alex and Ani has accused BJ’s Wholesale Club of unlawfully obtaining its bangle bracelets through a web of distributors and selling them without authorization. In July, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled that suit could move forward, overriding the defendants’ attempts to have the case dismissed.
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