US lifestyle footwear company Skechers USA, Inc. has announced that it will be refiling its lawsuit against Asics Corporation and Asics America Corporation for trade libel, unfair competition and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage and economic business relations. The suit will be re-filed when Skechers answers a similar complaint made by Asics.
Skechers will seek $100 million in punitive damages and a declaration that none of its designs infringe Asics’ trademarks.
Commenting on the decision to refile the suit, Skechers’ general counsel, Philip Paccione stated, “Skechers dismissed its lawsuit against Asics without prejudice in the ‘interest of judicial economy’ and will be re-filing the suit as counterclaims in Asics’ lawsuit, which was explained in a March 28, 2007 letter to Asics’ lawyers. Given that Skechers’ declaratory relief claim against Asics involves the same legal and factual issues as Asics’ infringement claims against Skechers, we elected to re-file as counterclaims and avoid wasting public tax money by maintaining separate suits. It was an opportune time to dismiss and consolidate since the parties were attempting to resolve the matter and the Skechers’ suit had not yet been served.” He added, “On April 13, 2007, Asics’ lawyers issued a press release stating that Skechers dropped its trade libel suit. The press release did not include relevant information given to Asics in the March 28 letter, including the reason why Skechers dropped the suit, that the suit was dismissed without prejudice, and that Skechers intends to re-file when it answers Asics’ complaint.”
