MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SKECHERS USA, Inc. (NYSE:SKX), a global leader in the lifestyle and performance footwear industry and the number two footwear brand in the United States*, today announced that it filed a lawsuit against Steven Madden Ltd. for selling footwear that infringes on the popular SKECHERS GO WALK® product line as well as other popular SKECHERS product lines.
The suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief for infringing on multiple SKECHERS’ patents. The suit states that Steven Madden is selling the infringing products under its Steven by Steve Madden Line under the style name Setta.
“SKECHERS has invested tremendous resources into designing, developing, advertising and patenting our SKECHERS GO WALK® and our other popular product lines and has built them into a name and look globally recognized and synonymous with SKECHERS,” stated David Weinberg, Chief Operating Officer of SKECHERS. “While we prefer to compete in the market place, Steven Madden is selling its infringing footwear to SKECHERS’ wholesale customers and in other sales channels where the SKECHERS products are sold, and we believe this is causing us enormous damage. Considering our investment in the SKECHERS GO WALK® and our other product lines, we will not allow anyone to infringe on some of our most valuable intellectual properties. We plan on taking similar action against any company that develops any products that infringe on the patents of the SKECHERS GO WALK® or any of our other popular product lines, and any retailer that sells the Steven by Steve Madden Setta style.”
SKECHERS is being represented in the suit by Marshall Lerner and Vivian Wang of Kleinberg & Lerner in Los Angeles.
*Sporting Goods Intelligence, July 12, 2013
About SKECHERS USA, Inc.
SKECHERS USA, Inc., based in Manhattan Beach, California, designs, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle footwear for men, women and children, as well as performance footwear for men and women. SKECHERS footwear is available in the United States and over 120 countries and territories worldwide via department and specialty stores, more than 1,050 SKECHERS retail stores, and the Company’s e-commerce website. The Company manages its international business through a network of global distributors, joint venture partners in Asia, and 12 wholly-owned subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Japan and throughout Europe. For more information, please visit skechers.com and follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/SKECHERS) and Twitter (twitter.com/SKECHERSUSA).
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company’s future growth, financial results and operations, its development of new products, future demand for its products and growth opportunities, and its planned opening of new stores, advertising and marketing initiatives. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking language such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will result,” “could,” “may,” “might,” or any variations of such words with similar meanings. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include the resignation of the Company’s former independent registered public accounting firm, and its withdrawal of its audit reports with respect to certain of the Company’s historical financial statements; international, national and local general economic, political and market conditions including the ongoing global economic slowdown and market instability; consumer preferences and rapid changes in technology in the highly competitive performance footwear market; sustaining, managing and forecasting costs and proper inventory levels; losing any significant customers, decreased demand by industry retailers and cancellation of order commitments due to the lack of popularity of particular designs and/or categories of products; maintaining brand image and intense competition among sellers of footwear for consumers; anticipating, identifying, interpreting or forecasting changes in fashion trends, consumer demand for the products and the various market factors described above; sales levels during the spring, back-to-school and holiday selling seasons; and other factors referenced or incorporated by reference in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2015. The risks included here are not exhaustive. The Company operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time and the companies cannot predict all such risk factors, nor can the companies assess the impact of all such risk factors on their respective businesses or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Moreover, reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance.
