- Costco is facing a new lawsuit from Lululemon, which alleges Costco has sold some clothing products that violate its trademarked designs.
- The apparel maker cited six products, including pants, jackets, and a hoodie that are designed in a “confusingly similar” way.
- “Dupes” like the Costco products often receive significant attention online as they give consumers a less expensive way to get a popular design.
Lululemon Athletica (LULU) filed a lawsuit against Costco Wholesale (COST), accusing the warehouse retail giant of infringing on its trademarks by selling clothing that is “confusingly similar” to designs trademarked by Lululemon.
In the complaint filed Friday in a California federal court, Lululemon said Costco “has unlawfully traded upon [Lululemon’s] reputation, goodwill and sweat equity by selling unauthorized and unlicensed apparel employing knockoff, infringing versions of [Lululemon’s] well-known trade dress and design patents.”
Costco did not immediately respond to Investopedia’s request for comment on the lawsuit.
Consumers across the internet often spend substantial time and energy finding “dupes” of popular-but-expensive products like Lululemon’s clothing. Lululemon cited in the complaint stories from The Washington Post and the New York Times-owned review site Wirecutter looking into Costco products that had drawn attention online for being near-identical replicas of Lululemon products.
Lululemon lists six products Costco sells that allegedly violate its trademarked designs, including a Kirkland Signature pair of pants, and five jackets and hoodies from Danskin, Jockey, Spyder, and Hi-Tec. The apparel maker said Costco responded to a complaint Lululemon sent in November and stopped selling some of the violating items, but not all of them.
Lululemon requested a jury trial to hear the case, and is seeking damages to make up for sales it may have lost by Costco offering similar products.
Neither retailer’s stock has been impacted by the suit, with Lululemon and Costco shares each up slightly in premarket trading Monday.
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