Martha, Emeril Sued Over Alleged Trademark Violation

The Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Wuppertal-Solingen-Remscheid in Germany has sued Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse, Home Shopping Network (HSN) and some related companies over claims that knives sold under the Emeril brand made false claims of being associated with Solingen.

According to a report by Courthouse News Service (CNS), the Solingen trade name dates back to 1853 and is protected in Germany and the United States. It was trademarked in the United States in 1974, with a first-use date of 1853, according to the complaint.

The chamber sued Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Emeril Lagasse, HSNI LLC dba Home Shopping Network and SED International Holdings, a distributor of the products, in Miami Federal Court. 

The CNS report said Solingen officials claim they discovered the trademark violations and unfair competition when they saw Solingen cutlery being sold this spring on the Home Shopping Network, marked with “Emeril” and the “Solingen, Germany” trademark on one side, and “China” on the other. The Solingen mark is meant to certify that the knives are made in the Solingen area of Germany.

The complaint names Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which bought the Emeril brand from celebrity chef Lagasse for $50 million and now controls the brand. It describes defendant Home Shopping Network as a $3 billion enterprise, which “advertises, distributes, promotes, offers for sale and sells various knife products bearing counterfeits of the Chamber’s federally registered certification mark, in this judicial district and elsewhere through (its) Internet website.” SED, also named in the complaint, is the exclusive distributor of the Emeril and Emerilware products.

The Solingen mark “certifies that the goods sold under that brand are of a certain origin and comply with extremely high and specific standards of manufacture,” according to the complaint. “Defendants are not entitled to use the Solingen Certification Mark in connection with designing, manufacturing, advertising, promoting, distributing, publicly displaying, offering for sale, and/or selling the counterfeit products, as the counterfeit products are made in China and do not comply with the Solingen Decree.” 

The chamber, according to the CNS report, seeks $2 million in statutory damages for each trademark violation, or treble damages of illicit profits, treble damages for false advertising and unfair competition, an accounting, punitive damages, and a protective injunction.