QVC sued for copying "photoshop contour" skinny jeans

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
May 18, 2018

QVC has been sued by Skinny Brand Jeans LLC, whose founder claims that, after she pitched her line to the shopping network, it copied her slimming wash pattern and fabrication for their own visually contoured skinny jeans.

The lawsuit was filed in Pennsylvania federal court this week and alleges that QVC "stole Skinny Brand Jeans wash pattern and put the slimming wash pattern on its in house branded jeans called G.I.L.I."

According to the complaint, Skinny Brand Jeans technology uses light and dark washes to create a contoured illusion that "makes the legs appear thinner ... and longer, [and] essentially creates a very effective illusion of a slimmer body."

In a live spot on QVC, Skinny Brand Jeans' founder Catherine Hart explained that the jeans give the image of a "photoshop contour" like makeup that visually slims the leg and elongates the body.

Hart allegedly pitched her visually contoured skinny jeans to QVC in 2013. Her angle was that her jeans could fill a market niche at a premium price point "well above the low-end jeans being sold on QVC" at the time.

Hart's complaint goes on to allege that, after their initial meeting, QVC filed for a trademark for "How Slimming" for its private label G.I.L.I., something that the designer was unaware of at the time.

Later, in 2014, Skinny Brand Jeans granted QVC a license to make a lower priced version of its photoshop contoured skinny jeans called SkinnyJeans2. As part of the deal, Hart worked as a design consultant over the next few years.

The lawsuit stems from the fact that QVC allegedly went outside of the licensing deal and put the wash pattern on its private label-brand G.I.L.I., an act Hart alleges amounts to trade dress infringement, copyright infringement and other intellectual property violations.

Skinny Brand Jeans and Hart have asked the court for monetary damages, attorneys fees and expenses related to protecting their brand.

QVC does not comment on pending litigation and has not yet filed its answer in court.