Parigi is one of America’s leading licensees in the childrens business. This lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court – Southern District of New York alleges that Puma:
• Systematically misappropriated Parigi’s trade secret and proprietary business information to further their own nefarious agenda of secretely forming a secret joint venture
• Puma obtained through improper and duplicitous means confidential trade secrets
Puma wrongfully obtained Parigi’s confidential trade secret and proprietary business information, including its internal financials, and undertook a carefully planned campaign by which they contacted Parigi’s key customers – major retailers such as Bloomingdales, Macy’s, Costco, Ross and Belk to disparage Parigi and its products by falsely representing that, Parigi’s Puma products were “not approved Puma product” and were “not authentic,” insinuating that Parigi was selling infringing products in violation of federal law.
Defendants launched a reputational attack by which they defamed Parigi by falsely stating that Parigi was going out of business, was going bankrupt, had legal concerns and encouraged Parigi’s major customers – Bloomingdales, Macy’s, Costco, Ross and Belk, among others -not to do business with Parigi;
Puma has a lot to be concerned about – as surely licensees worldwide are wondering “Is Our Brand Going to be Maligned If We Stop Doing Business With Puma?” and “Does Puma’s Agreement Mean Anything?”.
Parigi clearly looks forward to their day in court.