Crocs, an American brand recently filed a design infringement lawsuit on the popular Japanese dollar store Daiso for manufacturing and selling a line of footwear that has remarkable similarities to Crocs classic clog silhouette popularly known as “crocs”.
The “Casual Sandals for Men” and the “Lined Casual Clog products” by Daiso is being charged for being sold as counterfeit clogs that infringe on Crocs’ ‘3D’ design.
Crocs alleges that the line by Daiso bears numerous Crocs patented designs, thus the duplication of these designs resulted in misunderstanding of the product authenticity. This also resulted in misleading associations being formed by consumers on apparent association between Crocs and Daiso, this could lead Daiso to gaining unfair profits.
Daiso also manufactured these products in China and sold them in the USA for a retail price of $3.00 to $3.50.
The popularity of the classic clog silhouette has grown during the pandemic, this filing is one of the recent attempts made by Crocs to prevent knock-off deigns.
This is not the first time Crocs has filed a infringement lawsuit. In July 2021 Crocs sued 21 other companies for impeding on its trademark rights. These both large companies like Walmart Inc., Loeffler Randall Inc and other smaller companies selling ‘knock-offs’ were charged in the lawsuit.