SKECHERS USA, Inc. (SKX), a global leader in the lifestyle and performance footwear industry recently called “the hottest major (footwear) brand in the U.S.” by Princeton Retail Analysis*, today announced that it filed a lawsuit against Fila U.S.A. Inc. for selling footwear that infringes on the popular SKECHERS GO WALK® product line.
The suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief for infringing on SKECHERS’ patent and trade dress rights and for unfair competition and dilution. The suit states that Fila is selling the infringing products under the name Fila Amazen Memory Moc.
“As we’ve explained previously, SKECHERS has made extensive investment in designing, developing, advertising and patenting our SKECHERS GO WALK® product line and has built SKECHERS GO WALK® into a name and look globally recognized and synonymous with SKECHERS,” stated David Weinberg, Chief Operating Officer of SKECHERS. “Competing in the open marketplace is always preferable, but now Fila is selling its infringing footwear to SKECHERS wholesale customers and in other sales channels where SKECHERS GO WALK® is sold, and we believe this is causing us enormous damage. Our investment in SKECHERS GO WALK® requires us to respond in kind to any competitor attempting to gain an unfair advantage over SKECHERS and our retail partners by infringing on one of our most valuable intellectual properties. We will continue to enforce our intellectual property rights against any company that develops footwear that infringes on the patents and trade dress of SKECHERS GO WALK® as well as our other proprietary product lines.”
SKECHERS is being represented in the suit by Marshall Lerner of Kleinberg and Lerner in Los Angeles.
*Matt Powell, April 2014 Footwear Overview
About SKECHERS USA, Inc.
SKECHERS USA, Inc. (NYSE:SKX), based in Manhattan Beach, California, designs, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle footwear for men, women and children, as well as performance footwear for men and women. SKECHERS footwear is available in the United States via department and specialty stores, Company-owned SKECHERS retail stores and its e-commerce website, and in over 100 countries and territories through the Company’s international network of subsidiaries in Canada, Brazil, Chile, Japan, and across Europe, as well as through joint ventures in Asia and distributors around the world. For more information, please visit skechers.com, and follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/SKECHERS) and Twitter (twitter.com/SKECHERSUSA).
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company’s future growth, financial results and operations, its development of new products, future demand for its products and growth opportunities, and its planned opening of new stores, advertising and marketing initiatives. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking language such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will result,” “could,” “may,” “might,” or any variations of such words with similar meanings. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include the resignation of the Company’s former independent registered public accounting firm, and its withdrawal of its audit reports with respect to certain of the Company’s historical financial statements; international, national and local general economic, political and market conditions including the ongoing global economic slowdown and market instability; consumer preferences and rapid changes in technology in the highly competitive performance footwear market; sustaining, managing and forecasting costs and proper inventory levels; losing any significant customers, decreased demand by industry retailers and cancellation of order commitments due to the lack of popularity of particular designs and/or categories of products; maintaining brand image and intense competition among sellers of footwear for consumers; anticipating, identifying, interpreting or forecasting changes in fashion trends, consumer demand for the products and the various market factors described above; sales levels during the spring, back-to-school and holiday selling seasons; and other factors referenced or incorporated by reference in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2014. The risks included here are not exhaustive. The Company operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time and the companies cannot predict all such risk factors, nor can the companies assess the impact of all such risk factors on their respective businesses or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Moreover, reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance.
Contacts:
Jennifer Clay, 310-937-1326
