The distributor of Ed Hardy jewelry has filed suit against
Bidz.com, alleging the jewelry e-commerce site is selling “counterfeit”
versions of its products.

In papers filed July 19 in the U.S. District Court for the
Central District for California, Los Angeles-based V & R Holdings, which says
it has the exclusive Ed Hardy license for jewelry, charged that Bidz.com has
been “knowingly obtaining, promoting, palming off, and selling imitation
jewelry made in the People’s Republic of China bearing the Ed Hardy Marks and
Ed Hardy Intellectual Properties [as if it were] authentic Ed Hardy jewelry
products.”

The suit admits that Bidz once had a deal with B-Gold, a
distributor whose services V & R had engaged, to sell authentic Ed Hardy
goods. However, the suit claims that in May 2010, Bidz informed B-Gold it no
longer needed to purchase Ed Hardy jewelry through B-Gold because it had found
a cheaper supplier of the same goods. 

V & R’s suit seeks an injunction against Bidz from using
the Ed Hardy intellectual property in connection with “unauthorized merchandise”;
seizure and destruction of any “counterfeit” products; as well as unspecified
damages.

Bidz, which had
$104 million in revenues in the last year, did not return a request from JCK for comment.

JCK