Overview
In an opinion Wednesday, Judge Sweet ruled that the U.S. Polo Association improperly sold sunglasses with marks confusingly similar to Ralph Lauren's polo logo, and ordered that its profits on those sales be disgorged. The opinion begins by noting that this is not the parties’ first dispute:
This is the latest outbreak of a twenty-eight year trademark war between PRL and its predecessor, possessors of the highly-successful Ralph Lauren Polo Player Logo and the USPA, a national association dedicated to the promotion of the sport of polo and the sale of products which are designated as polo products. The parties have conducted this feud in various battlegrounds with tenacity, ability and assisted by eminent and high skilled counsel. The outcome of these battles has not produced the clarity to compel the termination of the conflict. What follows is the outcome of another skirmish which involves a dispute over the USPA’s parties' use of variants of its Double Horsemen Mark and U.S. POLO ASSN. marks on eyewear.
