Cooley LLP announced today a major victory for popular online shopping club Beyond the Rack in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in defeating Nordstrom Inc.’s motion for a preliminary injunction in a trademark infringement suit over use of the term “Rack.”
The Cooley trademark litigation team was led by partner John Crittenden, along with associates Brendan Hughes and John Paul Oleksiuk. Partner Christopher Durbin served as Cooley’s on-the-ground counsel in Seattle.
Nordstrom claimed that the use of the “Beyond the Rack” mark for a “flash sale” website – which offers members deep discounts on limited-quantity items during 48-hour sales – infringed its rights in the names “Nordstrom Rack,” “Rack,” and “The Rack.” But the court disagreed, noting that “the salient part of the commercial name is ‘NORDSTROM,’ and not ‘RACK,'” and that there was no proof of actual customer confusion despite three years of coexistence. Finding that Nordstrom was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its infringement claim, and that it had failed to demonstrate irreparable harm, the court denied the motion.
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