Louis Vuitton sues MD casino over bag promotions

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French fashion house Louis Vuitton sued the firms that own and manage Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland on Monday after the resort distributed promotional bags with designs similar to the luxury bag maker’s signature branding.

The Paris-based designer also alleged that a second bag giveaway was launched by the Hanover casino in May to “maintain the false pretense of a collaboration” with Louis Vuitton.

Filed in U.S. District Court for Maryland, the trademark infringement lawsuit alleges four violations of the federal Lanham Act and accuses the firms of unfair competition under Maryland common law. It seeks millions in damages as well as court orders for any infringing products to be delivered for destruction and “an appropriate and fulsome corrective advertising campaign.”

Spokespeople for the casino and The Cordish Companies, which also operates casinos in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Louisiana under the Live! brand, did not immediately return requests for comment. Neither had an attorney listed in court records Tuesday. The matter is assigned to U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar.

Louis Vuitton is represented in the lawsuit by a team of attorneys from white-shoe law firm Steptoe LLP. Their 29-page complaint alleges that PPE Casino Resorts Maryland and Baltimore-based The Cordish Companies launched a coordinated mass-marketing campaign in April that included a promotional bag collection that infringed upon Louis Vuitton’s signature “three flowers” design. The casino’s “Art of Luxury” bags feature identical flower icons and replace the designer’s “LV” monogram with its own “Live!” branding.

The fashion brand has never licensed Maryland Live! to use its trademarked designs, it said in the complaint.

The designer sent the casino a cease-and-desist letter in mid-April, and the latter “indicated by email that they would stop distributing the Infringing Products,” the complaint says. The casino then pivoted to another promotional giveaway in which it “distributed purportedly authentic Louis Vuitton Products,” according to the complaint. The “Endless Elegance” campaign offered a “chance to win your share of $40,000, including a luxury French Collection” and featured pictures of Louis Vuitton bags and fragrances.

The first campaign “conditioned the public to view [the casino] as connected to Louis Vuitton,” the complaint alleges, and the second “is a blatant continuation of the same false association.”

The luxury brand founded in 1854 has long faced copycats and has aggressively pursued counterfeiting in court. Last year, the designer won a $584 million default judgment against an Atlanta shopping center it alleged had “created a safe haven for the sale of counterfeit Louis Vuitton merchandise.” Louis Vuitton also won a $1.3 million judgment in April against an online replica seller, also receiving a court order disabling the retailer’s web domain.