ISSUE During the 1990s, Samara Brothers, Inc. designed and manufactured children’s clothing that was sold in department stores. The clothes made by Samara Bros. consisted of one-piece outfits that were made of seer-sucker fabric with large appliques in a variety of decorative themes for girls and boys. Around the same time, Walmart Inc. hired a clothing manufacturing company to create a line of children’s clothing based on the current line from Samara Bros. Walmart Inc. named their copied line of clothing “Small Steps” and successfully sold it at a lower cost in their national chain of stores making millions in profits. Once Samara Brothers, Inc. learned of the copied garments, they sent numerous letters to Walmart, Inc. to stop the sale and production of the materials they believed they had the right to defend under trade dress laws. When Walmart, Inc. still continued to sell the copied garments, Samara Brothers, Inc. took Walmart, Inc. to court. Samara Brothers, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Walmart Inc. for copyright and trade dress infringement. …show more content…
children’s clothing line were in fact protected by the Lanham Act, the courts looked to previous cases to provide guidance as to how the law has been applied in the past. In the case of Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc. 112 S. Ct. 2753 (1992), the ruling seemed to offer increased protection to unique product packages and design without secondary meaning, specifically the interior design of Taco Cabana restaurants. The arrangement of tables, choice of decorations, and accessories that contributed to the ambience of the restaurant were distinctive to Two Pesos, Inc. restaurants that they were considered protected. The case involved a suit being brought against Two Pesos, Inc. for opening a chain of restaurants that had atmosphere and décor very similar to Taco Cabana restaurants and was ruled in favor of the plaintiff, Taco
The Dread Scott decision exacerbated the debate over slavery by declaring that blacks cannot be citizens and that Congress does not have the power to prohibit slavery in the territories, which further divided the North and the South. The decision also deeply affected politics, and was one of the causes of the Civil War.
After reading the article, “Why 62,000 Abercrombie & Fitch Employees Are Suing The Company,” there were two different problems that were brought to attention regarding Abercrombie & Fitch’s business ethics. The two problems were the mistreatment of their employees, and how their business marketing strategy is not well developed throughout their company. Abercrombie & Fitch is a company that has always been concerned about their image, which leads us to their, “look policy.” A “look policy” is a policy that relates to a certain look every employee has to follow to be eligible to work there. The company is facing a high-profile lawsuit over its, “look policy” (Greenhouse, 2015). Each employee is forced to purchase the company’s clothes to wear to work, each time a new sales guide comes out (Greenhouse, 2015). This is known as compelled purchases, which is a violation of the state’s labor codes (Greenhouse, 2015). They force the “look policy,” way too strong upon their employees, which developed into a huge problem. The company is facing a high-profile lawsuit
In the year 1990 Calvin Klein, Inc. and Warnaco Group, Inc. entered a licensing agreement. Under the licensing agreement the product that is being produced is the famous Calvin Klein Jeans. The license agreement was to expire in the year 2034 making it a 44 year term, but that all change on May 30, 2000 after Calvin Klein, Inc. filed a law suit against Warnaco Group, Inc. “for breaching its Jeanswear licensing and distribution contract and, in so doing, diluting the equity of CKI’s brand.” On this law suit the Calvin Klein company stated that the Warnaco Group, Inc. has affected the company negatively which has “including unauthorized adaptations of designs, failure to follow designer guidelines, and use of cheaper materials in production,” and they also stated that the Warnaco Group, Inc. used distribution channels that that are not in the licensing agreement, and/or that are a whole lot different price point than the retailer that Calvin Klein merchandises are usually in. Calvin Klein believed that all of these practices corrupted his brand image.
Rosen, Sonia A., Jaffe, Maurren, & Perez-Lopez, Jorge. (1997). The Apparel Industry and Codes of Conduct: A Solution to the International Child Labor Problems. Upland, PA: Diane.
In Packer’s essay, the used clothes are selling in a higher price in Uganda than they were bought from the Thrift Shop, and that is where the profits coming from. Natelie L. Hoang from Claremont College pointed out that used clothing is increasingly becoming the major source of garments in many African nations. In Uganda in particular, they account for 81% of the country’s total clothing purchases. BBC News stated that the imported clothes are so cheap that the local textiles factories and self-employed tailors can't compete, so they either close down or don't do as well as they could. Therefore, the local government tries to ban second-hand clothes, because they want to give a boost to local manufacturing, and help the
Wal-Mart Class Website. (2011). “Declaration Summaries”. Retrieved from 22 Nov 2011 The official site for the women in the class action Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Pous, Terri. “We, the Underdressed: A Brief History of Discrimination and Indifference in Fashion Retail.” Style.time.com. Time Style, 22 May 2013. Web. 15 January 2014.
The company has been sued via a class action lawsuit for allegedly disrespecting the human rights of workers in foreign countries (Wal-Mart, 2016). Workers claim to have been denied minimum wages and forced to work overtime; there are even allegations that management physically beat employees (Wal-Mart, 2016). Multiple allegations of safety violations also exist within the overseas corporations (Wal-Mart, 2016). If accepted the class action lawsuit could represent up to 500,000 foreign workers (Wal-Mart, 2016).
...t women across the world. Even though their are clear cases with sufficient evidence against them, Walmart seems to argue the same thing every time which is that the women who present the case against them have not enough in common. I believe that the argument is invalid because from what I have researched, every woman who went against Walmart all came together for rights that they deemed unfair and unethical. One of their own managers told a female employee that men are supposed to get paid more, that’s just how it is. That statement alone justifies the argument against them. The battle for female workers equality is ongoing and I believe that women will continue to fight until they get what they want. In conclusion, women deserve the same opportunities as men and shouldn’t have to take it to the Supreme Court to get something that that every person should have.
“Sweatshops Are the Norm in the Global Apparel Industry. We’re Standing up to Change That.” International Labor Rights Forum. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2014. .
Legislation and regulation: Governments may prevent or allow the sale of Primark’s clothes based on product features, like provenance, materials, and so
Stempel, Jonathan. "Lululemon Prevails in Lawsuits over Yoga Pants Recall." Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune, 04 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Apr. 2014. .
...d up in Salvation Army bins. The U.S. textile recycling industry enables Africans to dress well for very little money. In 2003, used clothing was by far America’s largest export to Tanzania, and it ranked fourth worldwide as a customer for America’s castoffs, with competition from countries such as Beijing, and the Republic of the Congo.”
In a 1996 congressional testimony, National Labor Committee executive, Charles Kernaghan, led an expose on Kathie Lee Gifford when he revealed “that child laborers in Honduras were making the Gifford clothing line sold at Wal-Mart” (Duke). This realization caused Gifford to dissolve into tears and, over time, use her brand in the fight against corporate practices. For a while, these protestors were able to make a difference as many corporations were began to specify which companies were making their clothes, adopted codes of conduct, and “relied on monitors who visited factories once every three months and conducted random inspections” (Colliver). However, these socially conscious changes aren’t structured “to make factories take better care of their workers. They’re designed to make factories look like they are” (Hobbes). In reality, the factory inspections and audits are essentially, as Hobbes describes it, a “paperwork exercise”, as inspectors usually spend two days maximum at each factory, mostly checking time sheets for shift lengths, birth certificates for child labor, and pay stubs for wages. In addition to this, most manufacturers, particularly those in China and Southeast Asia, are experts in bypassing regulations “by keeping multiple sets of books, hiding cramped
Children use clothing as a form of identity, and when their families cannot afford the latest trends, it can lend itself to feelings of low self-worth and can even make children targets of bullying. Children are inundated every single day with advertising and marketing, and these kids are connected to media a good portion of their day. This allows advertisers to creep into our children’s lives and target them multiple times every day. Corporations are guilty of putting financial gain ahead of children’s health and well-being, and the fashion industry has been identified as one of these industries (L...