Crocs, Inc. files complaint against Walgreen Co. alleging footwear design infringement

Crocs, Inc. filed a complaint against Walgreen Co. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on November 11, 2011.  The complaint alleges that Walgreen “manufactures, uses, offers for sale, sells, and/or imports molded footwear throughout the United States” that infringe a design patent (U.S. Patent No. D610,784, hereinafter “the ‘784 patent”) and a utility patent (U.S. Patent No. 6,993,858 B2) assigned to Crocs.  In particular, the complaint alleges that the “Caribbean Cartel” footwear sold by Walgreen are “obvious imitations of well-known and successful Crocs styles.”  Although the specific designs of the alleged infringing footwear are unknown, images of Caribbean Cartel The Lost Pirates footwear, taken from eBay.com (last visited Nov. 16, 2011), are shown below.  Figure 1 from U.S. D610,784 is shown to the right.

Crocs’ most recent complaint, against Walgreen, follows successful enforcement of similar design patents against other defendants, as we previously discussed here and here.  Additionally, the ITC blog has discussed Crocs’ proceedings before the International Trade Commission.