Knock-Off Knock Out: Emeco Granted Trademark Protection for Iconic Aluminum 1006 Navy ® Chair
An instantly recognized classic of by designers the world over, the shape of Emeco's classic 1006 Navy ® Chair has been given Incontestable Status by the United States Patent Office. That means the company now has a powerful and prestigious new tool for preserving their intellectual property and fighting against knock-offs. Other companies are prohibited from copying the unique shape of the classic chair.
(PRWEB) August 2, 2007 - Next time, while in a meeting or having a drink, you find a seat on one of Emeco's classic 1006 Navy ® Chairs, be proud to be sitting on a trademark protected icon of industrial design. It's a rare distinction extended to only a handful of products and protects Emeco's intellectual property from cheap imitations and substandard knock-offs. In the design world, imitation is most certainly not the sincerest form of flattery.
E meco, The Aluminum Chair Company, has announced that it has added Incontestable Status of United States Registered "Trade Dress" for its 1006 Navy ® Chair to its arsenal against knock-offs. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted critical legal distinction to the 1006 Navy ®® Chair. The specific shape of Emeco's 1006 Navy ® chair has merited trade-dress protection. In two classic, earlier cases, the courts had granted such protection to McDonald's golden arches and to Coke's distinctive bottle. Emeco's 1006 Navy ® chair joins Knoll's Barcelona Lounge Chair and Herman Miller's Noguchi Coffee Table and Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman with this rare achievement.
"The 1006 Navy ® Chair has given unparalleled service for more than half a century. It's only fitting that its uniqueness should be recognized," said Julie Lasky, Editor-in-Chief of ID Magazine.
Pennsylvania based Emeco recently reached a significant milestone at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in support of the company's battle against knock-offs of one of its most notable designs, the 1006 Navy ® Chair. Emeco has built more than 1,000,000 1006 Navy ® Chairs since 1944, using a proprietary 77-step process.
Gregg Buchbinder, Emeco's Chairman said, "Even as we have tripled Emeco's size in the past four years, we continue to fight against copies of our iconic 1006 Navy ® Chair. You can see our chairs in applications as varied as prisons and 1006 Navy ® ships to martini bars and country kitchens, and in 50Countries, but copies from Asia, Italy, and even the US are rampant. No other company can make a chair like ours, and now it's much harder to promote and sell the knock-offs."
In November 2001, the USPTO granted registered "Trade Dress" protection for the 1006 Navy ® Chair. Then, in May 2007, Emeco received confirmation that the registered trade dress in its 1006 Navy ® Chair has been approved as an "incontestable" recognition, which provides a powerful weapon against the unauthorized manufacture, distribution, or use of the design's likeness.
Trade dress is a form of intellectual property protection and a subset of trademark law. Trade dress is the design and appearance of a product that serves to identify and distinguish the source of the product presented to the consumer. It involves the overall image of a product and may include features such as size, shape, color or color combinations, texture, graphics or even particular sales techniques. In other words, trade dress is a product's "look and feel".
"Trade dress registration means that Emeco's 1006 Navy ® chair is a valid and protected trademark," explained Buchbinder. "It is extremely difficult to acquire, but enables us to sue for infringement of a chair's design by any unauthorized parties. To be granted a registered trademark in one's trade dress, the design and appearance of a product must be inherently distinctive or to have achieved "secondary meaning." Trade dress acquires secondary meaning when consumers associate the product's design with a particular source. Our 1006 Navy ® Chair is certainly associated with Emeco, and we are ready to proceed in protecting it from US and foreign copies."
Now that Emeco's trade dress in the 1006 Navy ® Chair has achieved incontestable status with the USPTO, the status is not subject to cancellation. Infringers may not challenge Emeco's designation by claiming the mark is not inherently distinctive or lacks secondary meaning. Incontestable status also provides conclusive evidence of the validity of Emeco's trade dress in the 1006 Navy ® Chair design and precludes infringers from raising other defenses.
"We're seeing case after case in which the designers and producers of original products, who have followed the prescribed intellectual property law registration procedures, are fed up with misappropriation of their intellectual property and are taking a stand by going after the knock offs, and as a result there have been some substantial settlements, judgments, and legal protections," noted Susan Farley, Intellectual Property Attorney with Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. "The days when nothing is done about knock-offs are over. The public is becoming increasingly aware of intellectual property protection (patents, trademarks, trade dress, and copyrights) and is more and more concerned about the economic implications from unfair forms of competition. Knock-off producers are learning some hard lessons about the consequences of infringement."
"Emeco is committed to protect the value and integrity of our intellectual property, including the 1006 Navy ® chair and our other iconic designs," added Buchbinder.
When asked about the importance of Emeco's Trade Dress Status, Ray Brunner, CEO of Design Within Reach commented, "If the creative minds of today and tomorrow do not believe they can protect their ideas and the benefits that provides, they may stop having them. Intellectual property is perhaps the single greatest asset human kind has - it needs to be nurtured and protected."
About Emeco
All Emeco chairs are LEED™ compliant, made of 80% recycled aluminum, and in addition, the chairs have an estimated lifespan of 150 years. This, combined with the chairs' classic design and a lifetime guarantee, eliminates the need for recycling. Emeco has grown into a $10 million company, with a 30% international distribution rate, spanning Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. Emeco is one of the only companies of its kind that has distribution outside of the U.S. Emeco's projects and clients span a myriad of industries and interests, including hospitality, institutional, retail, transportation, corporate, entertainment, and media. The recent Patent Office decision represents the first trademark issued for any piece of Emeco intellectual property.
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