Trademark infringement lawsuits are often filed in Colorado and around the country when business owners discover that another company is using branding elements much like their own to sell similar products. One such lawsuit was filed recently by a Georgia entrepreneur against Target Corporation. The woman behind the lawsuit owns a company called Garnish & Gather that promotes food growers in the Atlanta area, and she took legal action when she found out that the big-box retailer had named their new line of premium foods Good & Gather.
The woman says that she filed her lawsuit after Target ignored a notice of trademark infringement. She claims in her litigation that approximately 50 items being sold under the Good & Gather brand overlap with Garnish & Gather products. She says that consumers may be confused even further because both brands use a leaf motif in their logos. The lawsuit was filed on Nov. 8 in New York. Target has petitioned the court to transfer the case to Minnesota.
A Target representative said the company respects intellectual property and maintained that the Good & Gather line occupies a distinctive place in the market. The retailer currently sells Good & Gather products in 1,800 of its stores and expects the brand to be worth several billion dollars within a year or so. Garnish & Gather sells meal kits to about 800 subscribers each week.
Attorneys with experience in intellectual property law may advise small business owners to pursue civil remedies when their trademarks are infringed upon, but they might also explain to them that this kind of legal action can be expensive to litigate. However, even defendants with deep pockets may conclude that a swift resolution is preferable to a protracted legal battle when the similarity of the branding elements involved could cause confusion in the marketplace.
