Marge Carson Sues Schadig for Infringement

October 15, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Upholstery on October 2008 High-end home furnishings

vendor Marge Carson Inc., Rosemead, Calif., has filed a patent lawsuit against Schnadig Corp., Des Plaines, Ill., that alleges infringement of at least one of the patented design elements found in Marge Carson’s Chantelle sofa.

“Marge Carson prides itself in elegant and original designs, created exclusively for us by some of our industry’s top designers,” said

Will Sharp, president of Marge Carson. “We will aggressively protect our intellectual properties and the design integrity of our collections in order to ensure our retailers that they will not be subjected to design knock-offs.”

In-house designer Michael Gohman created the Chantelle sofa, which has become one of Marge Carson’s best sellers.

Many of Marge Carson’s designs and brands are protected by the laws governing design patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade dress.

The federal court complaint identifies Schnadig’s Compositions collection as containing the allegedly infringing sofa. Marge Carson seeks an injunction to stop all U.S. sales, manufacture or importation of the infringing product and payment to Marge Carson for damages incurred from such sales.

Discovery in the lawsuit may uncover additional design infringements that will require amendments to the complaint.