The Virginian-Pilot
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A Norfolk clothing designer has accused Target Corp. of a real panty raid.
April Spring, creator of the Foxers line of women's lingerie, has sued Target, accusing it of stealing her design for BoyShorts, a pair of women's briefs with a waistband like men's boxer shorts. In her lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria last week, Spring says the retailer infringed on her patent for BoyShorts, part of her Foxers brand.
The suit says Target's infringement "has been and continues to be intentional and willful" and seeks to stop the chain from selling the garments. Spring and her company, Spring & Associates LLC, have asked for unspecified damages of as much as or more than Target's profits from the panties, plus her costs, including attorney's fees.
Spring said she has spent about $250,000 to launch Foxers and has yet to earn money from it, while Target's chief executive takes home millions in salary and bonuses.
"I gave up everything for three years," Spring said, "all of my money, my discretionary income, my savings."
Joshua Thomas, a spokesman for Minneapolis-based Target, said the retailer "has not yet been served with a lawsuit, so it would be inappropriate for us to provide any further comment."
Spring said that about 18 months ago, a man stopped at her office and identified himself as an independent representative looking to sell Foxers to Target. He told her the wife of Target's chief executive already loved the idea, Spring said.
She said that during the three-hour meeting, the man asked Spring how she would design Foxers, priced $20 to $26 a pair, to sell for less in the mass market. She told him she could do a simpler BoyShorts with a plaid waistband in Foxers' most-popular colors - pink, navy blue and green.
"And that's exactly what they did," she said of the $4.99 Target version.
The man never got back to Spring. The next summer, Spring said, her sister and niece were shopping and found the Foxers-looking lingerie on Target's racks.
The suit does not name the man, Spring said, because she could not prove his involvement.
Spring filed for her patent on the BoyShorts in late 2006 and received it in December.
"They have so much. Why would they even do this?" she said of Target. "I wouldn't mind just being a poster child so they don't do it to someone else."
Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com
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94k Soldier
More likely not a nefarious thing!
Artsy people are known for not being organized. Bet she lost the man's card and never wrote his full name on her calendar, so she can't even prove which Target rep came to see her! Happens all the time!
This Article Just Shows
How crass and money-grabbing our culture has become. This is absolutely ridiculous.
More to the story....
As much as I would like to support her, there is something more to her story than what's been told...How can you do a business with someone, have a meeting for 3 hours about designing a product and say that you can't involve him on the lawsuit because you can't prove his involvement?
Well, you know...
I hope she sues the pants off them! What a rotten thing for Target to do. While $26 may seem like a lot to some people, you've apparently not shopped for fine lingerie. Mine are certainly a bit more than $5 and they're worth it.
This is not the first time
that Target Corp. was accused of patent infringement. Somebody stated that many small companies are formed to take advantage of the "big guy", but you need to recognize that the converse is also true, that the big corporations often take advantage of the little guy. I'm sure that justice will prevail here.
you go girl
April don't let target walk over you. you have worked hard to get where you are today. GO after Target with everything you got.
clues for the clueless
There is more than one type of patent. One of these types is called a design patent and it is meant to protect . . . you guessed it . . . designs. There are also method and device patents. And for the reading impaired, the story states that the patent has already been issued:"Spring filed for her patent on the BoyShorts in late 2006 and received it in December."
There are some fairly strict rules governing these design patents. The examiner clearly felt the design of these undies were unique in some specific ways. It is all well and good to look at the picture in the paper and say "they look like normal skivvies to me" but that isn't a workable standard. Price is quite beside the point.
Patents actually serve to public good. They are part of the rule of law. This applies even to underwear.
investigate this crime
Get to the bottom of this story.
Hmm
I think most women can agree that her design for boyshort underwear is nothing new. Good luck to her I guess.
Obvious or trivial?
The question is if the design is obvious, trivial, or already exists. Patent abuse is a big problem these days. People claim they invented some obvious thing and then take a big company to court hoping they'll just settle to make the problem go away. There's companies formed all the time where the only purpose is to file lawsuits like this.