The U.S. District Court in New York today entered a judgment of $21,010,438.35 in favor of Ellis George client Tiffany & Co. in its case against Costco for trademark counterfeiting and unfair competition. The judgment includes $8.25 million in punitive damages.
The entry of judgment follows a two week jury trial held in September 2016, and extensive post-trial briefing. United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain observed in her August 14, 2017 Opinion, which directed the entry of judgment, that “Costco’s upper management, in their testimony at trial and in their actions in the years prior to the trial, displayed at best a cavalier attitude toward Costco’s use of the Tiffany name in conjunction with ring sales and marketing.”
Judge Swain’s decision was widely reported, including on ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, CNN, Fox News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the BBC. Lead Ellis George trial lawyer Jeffrey Mitchell has also been quoted in many stories, and appeared on the August 16, 2017 broadcast of ABC’s Good Morning America.
Jeff tried the case with Ellis George lawyers Judith Cohen and Brett Katz, as well as with senior trial paralegal Elizabeth Scher.
