Louis Vuitton Malletier S.A. v. Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc.
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
868 F. Supp. 2d 172 (2012)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc. (defendant) produced the movie “The Hangover: Part II.” In a scene at an airport, Alan, one of the characters, placed a Diophy bag on the seat next to him. Another character moved the bag to make room for a third character to sit. In response, Alan said: “Careful that is . . . that is a Lewis Vuitton.” Alan pronounced the word with the English pronunciation “Lewis,” as opposed to the French pronunciation “Louis.” Diophy bags were knockoffs of bags made by Louis Vuitton Malletier S.A. (plaintiff), the world-famous company. Louis Vuitton sued Warner for, among other things, false designation of origin and unfair competition under section 43(a) of the Lanham Act. Louis Vuitton argued that many viewers of the movie believed that the Diophy bag was actually a Louis Vuitton bag. Warner moved for a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Carter, Jr., J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 804,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.