(1 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 1 July 2025
1. Various of the exterior of a Lululemon store
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Wyatte Grantham-Philips, The Associated Press:
"Fashion dupes or less expensive versions of high-end clothing and other accessories are just about everywhere shoppers look these days. And they’re also pulling some companies into legal battles. Lululemon has recently slapped Costco with a lawsuit, accusing the Wholesale Club operator of selling lower priced duplicates of some of its popular athleisure apparel. This isn’t the first time that Lululemon and other companies with steep price tags on their goods have encountered what they say are knockoffs of their products."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Sheridan, Colorado – 13 March 2025
3. STILL of a Costco Wholesale
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Burbank, California – 10 April 2025
4. STILL of shoppers in front of a Costco Wholesale
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 1 July 2025
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Wyatte Grantham-Philips, The Associated Press:
"Companies have rolled out cheaper alternatives for consumers to buy instead of designer brands for years. But the rise of dupe shopping has exploded recently, particularly on social media. Late last year, Walmart, for example, created a buzz online when it began selling a $78 bag that closely resembled Hermes’s iconic Birkin, a fraction of the price of the original luxury good."
6. Various of the exterior of a Lululemon store
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Wyatte Grantham-Philips, The Associated Press:
"Unlike counterfeits, which are illegal copies of a product that feature an unauthorized trademark or logo of a patented brand, so-called pure dupes may resemble certain features of more expensive products, but are generally legitimate. Still, experts say that some dupes are moving into uncertain legal territory, including copyright and trademark infringement. And other businesses have taken legal action over dupes before. In the beauty aisle, for example, Benefit sued Elf for trademark infringement over a similar mascara. But in December, 2024, a California judge ruled in favor of Elf, finding that its mascara didn’t infringe on Benefit’s trademarks or deceive shoppers. And Lululemon has found itself in this kind of situation before, suing Peloton over alleged copycat products back in 2021. But two years later, the company has announced a five-year partnership that included Lululemon becoming the primary athletic apparel partner to Peloton."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Cranberry, Pennsylvania – 7 March 2025
8. STILL of an American flag flying outside a Costco Warehouse
STORYLINE:
Lululemon has filed a lawsuit against Costco that accuses the wholesale club operator of selling lower-priced duplicates of some of its popular athleisure clothing.
Lululemon Athletica claims in its lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California that Costco has “unlawfully traded” on its reputation, goodwill and sweat equity by selling unauthorized and unlicensed apparel that uses knockoff, infringing versions of its patents.
Lululemon alleges that Costco is known to use manufacturers of popular branded products for its private label Kirkland brand, but that the company and the manufacturers don’t tell consumers of the connection between them for many of the Kirkland-branded products. Because of this, Lululemon claims this leads at least some shoppers to believe that Kirkland-branded products are made by the authentic supplier of the “original” products. Lululemon claims Costco doesn’t try to dispel the ambiguity.
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News post in July 6, 2025, 9:05 pm.
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