Huntington Beach surfwear maker Quiksilver Inc. is headed to court against a Los Angeles company in a dispute over its Roxy brand of clothes.
Quiksilver is suing Kymsta Corp. over its Roxywear by Roxx clothing line, citing trademark infringement. The two are set to meet in court in November.
The company first sued Kymsta in 2002, prompting a counter suit from Kymsta contending its Roxywear name was used before Quiksilver made Roxy a distinct brand.
Quiksilver disputes that, saying it prevailed in a trial a few years ago in which the judge ruled the evidence presented by Kymsta wasn’t strong enough to present to a jury. Kymsta won a second trial on appeal.
“We are very confident we will prevail this time too,” said Charles Exon, Quiksilver’s general counsel.
James Nguyen, a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP in Los Angeles who is representing Kymsta, calls it a “David and Goliath type of situation.”
Kymsta, with yearly sales of $4 million, is mismatched in the fight. Quiksilver has $2 billion in yearly revenue and could run circles around Kymsta in terms of spending money in court.
But sources close to Quiksilver’s thinking call it a case of a small company seeking a settlement from a bigger one.
Kymsta is open to a settlement, according to Nguyen.
“I think it’s safe to say that everyone involved with this case wants to see some kind of conclusion earlier than later,” he said.
Quiksilver, which has tapped Irvine’s Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP and O’Melveny & Myers LLP in Newport Beach for the case, wants to fight it on principle, said a source familiar with the situation.
For more on this story, see the Sept. 3 edition of the Business Journal.
