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Lawsuits: Ever-Slippery Forever 21 Settles with Trovata

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Top row: Forever 21. Bottom row: Trovata. Image via <a href="http://www.wwd.com/retail-news/trovata-forever-21-copying-case-set-for-trial-2101514?browsets=1239626387453">WWD</a>
Top row: Forever 21. Bottom row: Trovata. Image via WWD

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Last spring, as you might recall, Trovata took Forever 21 to court on copying charges. The case had implications that reached far beyond the issue of who really came up with the idea of putting mismatched buttons on striped polo shirts. In all the fifty-plus times Forever 21 had been sued in the past, the mega-retailer had settled. The Trovata case was the first time the company ever had to face a jury.

The result, sadly, was anticlimactic, and it just got even more so. After a skirmish among jurors, the judge declared a mistrial. Trovata sued for a new jury, and the case was set to return to court on tomorrow—except that last Friday, Trovata and Forever 21 announced that they'd settled their differences. WWD has no information on the terms of the settlement, but given that it's the fifty-somethingth time Forever 21 has settled with a designer in the past couple years, we figure they probably have it down to a science by now.
· Jury Hijinks Lead to Mistrial in Trovata Vs Forever 21 [Racked]
· Trovata, Forever 21 Settle Lawsuit [WWD, subscription req'd]