SYDNEY: Seafolly has announced it has issued proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against the director of White Sands Swimwear, Leah Madden.
The swimwear giant claimed Madden has infringed Seafolly's copyright, committed breaches of the Fair Trading Act 1989 (Qld) and committed the tort of injurious falsehood. It has made an application for Madden to cease these actions.
The statement said Madden has now provided undertakings to the Court on a 'without admissions basis', agreeing to cease the conduct complained of by Seafolly until trial or further order.
The proceeding has now been listed for mediation.
The issue stems from a mass email which was sent to press from the White Sands head office on September 2, titled, 'The most sincere form of flattery?'.
The email contained eight side-by-side campaign images from both White Sands and Seafolly, with dated captions underneath.
One set of images showed two models in almost identical white,
strapless bikinis. The caption read 'White Sands 2009 Seafolly 2010'.
"Is it just us, or has Seafolly taken a little to (sic)
much 'inspiration' from White Sands?," the body of the email
questioned.
The statement from Seafolly said Madden also posted reproductions of photographs from Seafolly's catalogue, without Seafolly's consent, on her facebook page.
Seafolly denied claims of infringement. It said that five of the designs in question were released by Seafolly into the marketplace in March 2010. It said another was released into the market by Seafolly in March 2009. It reported that the remaining two designs were substantially progressed in development prior to White Sands Swimwear showing its products at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week (RAFW) in May this year.
Madden also questioned whether Seafolly had sent a buyer for its Sunburn retail stores to the White Sands RAFW show. Madden alleged that photographs were taken of her range by the buyer.
Seafolly said Madden was aware that Sunburn is partly owned by Seafolly when the buyer attended.
"Taking photographs by buyers is standard practice for the use of referencing when placing orders. These photos were not downloaded. Any allegations that the Sunburn buyer showed photographs of the White Sands garments to employees at Seafolly is totally false," said the statement.