Retailer Plummers settles suit over unauthorized Bogart furniture

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, May 18, 2011

LOS ANGELES — The owner of the intellectual property rights of Humphrey Bogart have settled a lawsuit with California retailer Plummers and affiliated retailers that accused them of trademark infringement for using and advertising the Bogart name for an unauthorized furniture line.

The furniture in question wasn't part of a Bogart collection developed by Thomasville under a licensing arrangement. The retailers, meanwhile, say the Bogart name was not one they chose, but was used by one of their suppliers that they carried over in the retailer's marketing.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Bogart LLC, which filed a complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court a year ago before it was moved to U.S. District Court there, charged that the contemporary-leaning Plummers and affiliated Scandinavian Designs and Dania used the Bogart name "in connection with a line of furniture manufactured, distributed and sold by these defendants, including a ‘Bogart' sofa, ‘Bogart' loveseat, ‘Bogart' sitting chair and ‘Bogart' ottoman."

Documents said the retailers operated 19 stores at the time of filing, 12 in California, six in Washington and one in Oregon.

The suit said that Bogart LLC licenses the name and persona of the legendary actor, including the agreement with Thomasville. It said Bogart LLC and a predecessor company "have been paid millions of dollars to date by Thomasville as a license fee for the use of the ‘Bogart' name and trademarks in connection" with its furniture line.

Bogart sought damages including attorneys' fees and an award of the revenues and profits the defendant retailers made through unauthorized use of the name and trademarks, among other things.

In a motion for summary judgment, the retailers said they began buying the Bogart items around 2005 from Danish manufacturer Actona. They said Bogart was the product identifier used by Actona, and the retailers didn't change it in their advertising.

"Actona was not a defendant," attorney Charles Harder, representing Bogart, said in an email to Furniture/Today. "From our point of view, any acts by Actona were irrelevant to the liability of the defendants ... which used the name and mark Bogart to sell furniture."

Since the terms of the settlement were not disclosed, it's unclear how much, if anything, Bogart LLC collected. One court document related to the settlement said that the two parties were paying their own attorneys' fees.

The name "Bogart" isn't being used on the websites for the retailers or Actona.

"We could not be more pleased with the result," Bogart's Robbert de Klerk said in a press release. "We hope that the settlement of this lawsuit sends a clear message that infringement of Humphrey Bogart's name and image do not pay and will be prosecuted."

An attorney representing Plummers and the related retailers declined to comment.