Coach’s trademark infringement and false advertising complaint against direct-to-consumer brand Quince is an example of luxury brands taking aggressive action to protect their trade dress. How might consumer survey evidence shape the outcome of these disputes?
Cutting Out the Middleman, and the Brand
Coach is a recognized luxury accessories brand. Marketing of these products has spanned seasons and decades, resulting in brand equity and loyalty. Quince is a direct-to-consumer brand that markets its products as “high quality essentials” at “radically low prices,” eliminating the retail markup that characterizes traditional luxury distribution.
Coach filed a trademark infringement and false advertising complaint, alleging that Quince is trading on Coach’s trade dress by offering handbags that are “substantially indistinguishable” from Coach’s designs. Coach alleges that Quince’s “Italian Leather Medium Convertible Satchel” is substantially similar to Coach’s Rogue bag, and that Quince’s “Italian Leather Buckle Detail Shoulder Bag” closely mirrors Coach’s Soho Flap bag. The designer brand alleges that the Quince bags create consumer confusion regarding source, affiliation, or Coach's endorsement. It seeks injunctive relief to halt sales of the products, require a recall and destruction of the allegedly infringing inventory, and recover damages.
The Role of Consumer Survey Evidence
Parties in Lanham Act lawsuits frequently use consumer perception research as evidence of consumer confusion. Litigation surveys address issues like whether relevant consumers are likely to be misled about the source, sponsorship, or affiliation of the allegedly infringing product. In a matter like Coach v. Quince, a likelihood of confusion survey could measure whether consumers who encounter Quince’s bags mistakenly believe they originate from Coach, are licensed or approved by Coach, or reflect some other affiliation with the luxury brand.
Alongside consumer confusion, Coach may also claim trade dress dilution, and a likelihood of dilution survey could measure whether the lower-priced lookalikes blur the distinctiveness of Coach’s bag designs.
Quince could commission its own consumer research to demonstrate that consumers distinguish between the two brands and do not associate the Quince bags with Coach. If Coach submits survey evidence, a survey rebuttal from a qualified expert could expose methodological weaknesses in that evidence and limit the weight the court assigns to it.
Battleground for Luxury Brands
The Coach v. Quince matter is at the center of a cultural trend: dupe culture. “Dupes” are duplicates of designer items, often fashion and beauty items, but without trademarked elements or the designer’s logos. As “dupe culture” moves from niche online communities into mainstream consumer behavior, luxury brands confront the commercial and reputational risks posed by selling visually similar products at dramatically lower price points. The IP questions these disputes raise, around trade dress protection, source confusion, and brand dilution, are ones that courts are being asked to resolve.
IMS Legal Strategies’ in-house survey experts design and conduct likelihood of confusion surveys, dilution surveys, materiality surveys, and survey rebuttals that meet rigorous legal and social science standards. Our team has supported counsel across thousands of matters before federal and state courts, the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and the BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division (NAD). Contact us to discuss how survey evidence can strengthen your position in a trademark or false advertising dispute.
