Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Jewelers at Odds: Tacori sues Scott Kay


Last month luxury diamond jewelry designer Tacori filed a law suite accusing fellow jeweler Scott Kay of copyright infringement, trademark infringement, unfair competition, and trade dress infringement.  Since 1999 Tacori has been advertising what they call their 'reverse-crescent design' for diamond engagement rings.  According to court paperwork, they believe that Scott Kay's, "Manufacture, distribution, duplication and/or sale of infringing copies of the Tacori crescent jewelry was deliberate, willful, malicious, oppressive and without regard to Tacori’s proprietary rights.”

Scott Kay and the presiding US District court judge disagree.  The honorable Dale S. Fischer of the Los Angeles US District court issued his ruling on March 3 citing that, “There is no evidence of actual confusion (between the two ring designs), and no credible evidence that defendant intended to adopt plaintiff’s Reverse Crescent Trade Dress. In addition, the ordinary, reasonable buyer of these products would likely not be confused by the similarity of the ring designs due to their expensive nature.” 

While Tacori plans to continue gathering evidence and information proving Scott Kay has violated their trademark and copyright protections, Scott Kay Inc plans to keep defending their "Heaven's Gate" line.  
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Social Commerce for Jewelry Websites

Image representing ThisNext as depicted in Cru...Image via CrunchBase
Social media marketing is not just for sharing our moods, favorite movies, and vacation photos anymore, and if you own a jewelry website you should be aware of the latest trend in human internet interaction: social commerce!  

According the recent article published by Websites for Jewelers titled, "Social Shopping Websites," social shopping is expected to blow up in the next year and jewelers should plan to create profiles on some of the top sites by the end of 2011. 

What is social commerce, or social shopping?  As defined by Wikipedia, “Social Shopping is a method of e-commerce where shoppers’ friends become involved in the shopping experience. Social shopping attempts use technology to mimic the social interactions found in physical malls and stores.”  Just like people use Facebook to see what their friends are up to and LinkedIn to network, people use social shopping sites to search out the latest styles, find the best deals, read up to date consumer reviews, and at the same share this information with their friends.  Imagine a new group of websites that have the sole purpose of exposing products and exchanging information about them!  This is creating a HUGE opportunity for the marketing of your jewelry website.

Check out some of the major sites including Kaboodle, ThisNext, and Polyvore.  Create your own shopping profile and highlight some of your own products.  Create style guides that incorporate hot items of clothing with YOUR jewelry as accents.  Show the other social shoppers how great your jewelry is and find your sales soar. 
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