U.S Court Sides With Louis Vuitton Over Poopsie Pooey Puitton Case

U.S Court Sides With Louis Vuitton Over Poopsie Pooey Puitton Case

MGA’s Poopsie Pooey Puitton Left and Louis Vuitton Takashi Murakami designed bag Right

A U.S district Judge has dismissed a lawsuit between fashion brand Louis Vuitton and MGA Entertainment, toymaker of the poop shaped handbag purse called ‘Pooey Puitton.’

Louis Vuitton was sued MGA Entertainment, back in December 2018. MGA Entertainment brought a lawsuit against Louis Vuitton in the U.S. after Louis Vuitton had filed an trademark action against MGA Entertainment in a French court alleging that the Pooey Puitton name (the “Pooey Name”) and product (the “Pooey Product”) infringed upon and disparaged certain E.U. trademarks owned by the French fashion house.

On the back of this, MGA filed a separate case in the U.S seeking a court declaration that Pooey Puitton did not infringe Louis Vuitton's intellectual property rights, and is protected parody and fair use, and that MGA should be able to continue to market and distribute the Pooey Product to use the Pooey Name.

Justifying it’s grounds for bringing the U.S lawsuit, MGA claimed that by filing an action in France alleging violation of its E.U. trademarks, Louis Vuitton had “asserted claims against MGA and its customers in the United States related to U.S. trademarks.”

Louis Vuitton filed a Motion to have the U.S case dismissed.

On Wednesday 14th May, in what can be read as a victory for the brand. Judge John Walter of the US District Court for the Central District of California has dismissed the lawsuit, after finding that MGA Entertainment (the maker of Pooey Puitton) “had failed to establish an actual controversy between the parties.”

Turing to the issue of allegations about other cases, Walter rejected MGA’s claim that Louis Vuitton’s recent filing in France of trademark infringement against MGA Entertainment, demonstrated the French company’s “history of not respecting parody rights in the United States.”

According to Judge Walter J “Rather than looking at past behavior concerning other unrelated companies and products to determine whether there is an actual controversy here, the Court need look only to the fact that Louis Vuitton has not sued MGA based on its trademark rights in the U.S., while it has initiated proceedings in France. These past events do not support the finding of a case or controversy.”

The case has been dismissed with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be brought back to court again. Whilst this is the case, litigation is still ongoing in the French courts on this matter, so we will await to see what happens.

More on this case can be read here