LONDON (Brand Republic) - Tesco claimed a victory in its battle against Levi Strauss yesterday, as a European court hinted that Tesco was entitled to sell cut-price Levi鈥檚 jeans in its stores.
Levi鈥檚 began proceedings against Tesco in 1998, threatening to take it to court and claiming that the retailer was breaching Levi鈥檚 trademark rights by selling the cut-price jeans against its wishes. Levi鈥檚 argued that its brand reputation is at stake and that staff need special training to sell the jeans.
Tesco responded to the threats by suing Levi鈥檚. It claims to have saved UK consumers £42m since it began selling the jeans, which are imported through the 鈥済rey market鈥.
A Luxembourg court yesterday referred the case back to the UK courts, with a non-binding opinion recognising Tesco鈥檚 right to 鈥渇reely sell products bought from around the world鈥. The wording of the opinion, however, was complex enough for Levi鈥檚 to interpret it in a different way, claiming that it gave trademark owners the right to control the import of their branded products.
The European Court is expected to make its final decision within months.