In July 2024, Japanese corporation Urawa settled with its former exclusive US distributor, Kupa, in a trademark infringement suit regarding its purple Upower UP200 nail filing machine. Urawa received $1 million in damages, an acknowledgement of its senior trademark rights and a trademark assignment for the colour purple, used for nail filing machines. Before the dispute, Urawa did not even know that its former distributor had registered the purple colour trademark in the United States.
Blank Rome partner Todd Malynn, who represented Urawa in the dispute, tells WTR how Urawa eventually took ownership of the registration and why both parties settled following court-mandated mediation.
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"Why a Japanese Nail Care Machine Maker Sued Its Only Us Distributor over the Colour Purple," by Joyce Ng was published in World Trademark Review on July 25, 2024.
