Saturday, August 4, 2012

German Attaché Maker Sues Marvel Over Avengers' Blu-Ray DVD Box Set

The Avengers Blu-Ray Box Set on Amazon.com
German luxury attaché case maker Rimowa claims in a recently-filed federal lawsuit in Los Angeles that the packaging for the forthcoming Blu-ray box set of the Marvel Entertainment movie Avengers is an unauthorized knock-off of its Topas attaché case.

The “Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One — Avengers AssembledBox Set” comes in a briefcase that resembles the case used by Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) in the movie.

The German luxury case maker claims that it supplied Marvel with a genuine attaché for the blockbuster movie, but did not grant permission to make plastic replicas for the DVD packaging.

Rimowa claims the plastic briefcases are cheap knockoffs, and amount to trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition in a Los Angeles federal court suit.

According to Marvel’s marketing materials, the Blu-Ray version of the movie are packaged in a plastic “exclusive replica of Nick Fury’s iconic briefcase.”



The Rimowa Topas attaché
“Images of the replica briefcase on Marvel’s advertising materials, and fan video from Marvel’s product display at this year’s ComicCon convention, show the plastic ‘replica case’ to be a close copy of Rimowa’s Topas attaché case in every respect but quality — from the proportions and coloring, to the style of the handle and latches, and, of course, in the use of the trademarked parallel ridges around the body of the case,” the German company claims in its lawsuit.

The attaché “was the repository for Nick Fury’s dossiers on the various superheroes who ultimately constituted the Avengers team,” according to the the suit.

Amazonis offering the Blu-Ray DVD box set for sale for about $140. The product is scheduled to be released September 25, 2012.

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