Tacori Fails to Get Injunction Against Scott Kay

A
federal judge on July 1 denied Tacori an injunction against Scott Kay’s Heaven’s Gates line, which Tacori claims infringes on its reverse crescent designs.

In
April, Tacori was also denied a restraining
order in the case.

In
his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Dale S. Fischer ruled that Tacori “has
not shown it is likely to succeed in establishing substantial similarity”
between the pieces.

“The
only similarities identified by Plaintiff are that both rings at issue have (1)
embedded in the side of the shank of the rings a repeating and connecting
pattern of a similar shape, which Plaintiff refers to as a reverse crescent and
Defendant refers to as an arch; and (2) a diamond set in the triangular spaces
between the openings created by each of the rings’ pattern,” the judge wrote.
“Even accepting Plaintiff’s assertion that the rings share these similarities,
it appears that neither element is original.”

The judge added she does “not believe a jury would consider the rings to be substantially similar, let alone virtually identical.”

In a
statement, Scott Kay said, “My Heaven’s Gates collection is a very personal and
spiritual jewelry design that expresses my vision of faith, protection and
commitment. … There is nothing more insulting to a designer like me, who has been consistently recognized by my customers and the industry for innovative, spiritual and original designs, to be accused of copying another’s work …  The Court’s July 1
decision, like its prior decision in March denying Tacori’s motion for a
temporary restraining order, validates the innovation and originality of my
Heaven’s Gates design.”

Tacori, however, vowed to press on with its case.

“While the Court’s decision has found that Tacori does
indeed have valid and original copyrights, and also that Scott Kay had
reasonable access to view the original Tacori rings, we disagree with the
Court’s ruling that the similarity of rings made by Scott Kay are not similar
in expression to rings by Tacori,” the company said in a statement. “Although the Court has
denied our motion for preliminary injunction, the ultimate decision will be
made by a jury.  We look forward to
taking this case to a jury of ordinary people, which we believe will find that
that Scott Kay’s rings are indeed so similar in concept and feel to Tacori
rings, that they do indeed infringe on Tacori’s valid copyrights.”

The company added that “it is committed to the vigorous
protection of our copyrights.”

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