NJN: Adwar, Unique Facing Off In Federal Court
August 09, 11(IDEX Online News) – Adwar Casting Co. Ltd. has slapped manufacturer Unique Settings of New York and six others with a $13.5 million federal copyright infringement lawsuit, alleging the company is making and distributing pieces of jewelry that are copies of Adwar’s designs.
Unique Settings has fired back with a counterclaim asking the court to direct the U.S. Copyright Office to cancel the copyright registrations on the designs in question because, Unique claims, they are not original.
According to the court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Adwar Casting is suing Unique Settings and the company’s owners and officers Mel Anda, Joseph Ceylan and David Kocak, as well as the retailer Diamond Castle in Marlboro, N.J. and Marlboro Diamond Plaza, an indoor jewelry exchange that leases space to retail tenants, including the Diamond Castle.
Anda and Kocak, along with the final defendant in the case, Maurice Payami, own the Diamond Castle and Marlboro Diamond Plaza, Adwar said. The lawsuit also names “Does 1-1,000,” entities, including retailers, that participated in infringement and that Adwar expects to name at a later date.
In a statement issued to National Jeweler, Unique Settings called the lawsuit “baseless” and pointed to its counterclaim filed on July 22. In the claim, Unique is seeking a declaratory judgment making the copyright registration invalid and unenforceable “because all or most of the designs lack originality and are not even original to Adwar Casting as they were created by others before the sale of such designs by Adwar Casting,” Unique said.
According to Adwar’s suit, Unique Settings was a regular customer of Adwar Casting from 1999 until 2007. Beginning around May 2007, Adwar learned that Unique Settings had allegedly begun manufacturing unauthorized castings embodying Adwar’s designs.
“In some instances, instead of ordering the quantity of Adwar’s products that Unique Settings needed to satisfy the anticipated demand of its customers, Unique Settings ordered a single item of certain of Adwar’s designs and then reproduced multiple, unauthorized castings embodying those designs,” court documents state.
When Adwar learned about Unique Settings’ activities, the company asked Unique to stop. Unique refused and Adwar stopped selling them castings. Court papers state that after this, Unique started manufacturing and distributing infringing jewelry-including “brass and glass” pieces used in Unique Settings’ UniqueAdvantage alloy sample program - and displayed the jewelry at trade shows nationwide. Unique allegedly fixed a false copyright notice, “US ©,” to most or all pieces of infringing jewelry.
The pieces were distributed to retailers, including Diamond Castle, as well as jewelry manufacturers and other customers, court papers state.
Adwar also claims in the suit that Unique Settings violated both state and federal computer fraud laws by obtaining the exclusive account number and password Adwar had issued to a retail jeweler to permit that retailer to access the portion of Adwar’s Web site that features new but not-yet-public designs, all for the purpose of copying those styles.
Court documents state, “On at least 14 occasions Unique Settings logged into Adwar’s website using [the] account number and password, and on at least nine of those occasions Unique Settings accessed the password-protected private website and viewed Adwar’s newest designs. Unique Settings continued to use [the] account number and password to gain access to Adwar’s private website until Adwar learned of Unique Settings unauthorized access and invalidated [the] account number and password.”
A total of 89 designs, a mix of rings, bracelets, pendants and earrings, are at issue in the suit. Court papers show that Adwar is asking the court for a minimum of $13.5 million in damages, a permanent injunction barring Unique Settings from infringing upon Adwar’s copyright designs, destruction of the allegedly infringing jewelry and photographs and anything that may be used in making the jewelry, and attorneys’ fees.