Los Angeles, CA – After deliberating late into the night on Thursday, the jurors in the hotly contested copyright infringement trial between Unicolors and H&M reached a verdict. The unanimous verdict held that H&M had committed willful infringement and was liable for $846,720 in damages.

Unicolors, a local design studio, represented by Doniger / Burroughs, established at trial that H&M had infringed its copyrights when H&M marketed and sold jackets and skirts bearing an unlawful copy of Unicolors’ original artwork. And Unicolors proved that H&M’s infringement was willful because H&M knew that its sales were infringing and was reckless and willfully blind to Unicolors’ rights. Unicolors also established that H&M ignored Unicolors’ claims and continued to sell the infringing product for months after notice of the infringement was provided.

H&M denied that it committed infringement, denied that the works of art at issue were substantially similar, denied that Unicolors’ artwork was protectable, and denied that its conduct was willful or reckless. And H&M claimed that the artwork on its garments was created by an individual in China. H&M’s counsel, in her statements to the jury, argued that H&M, a 15,000-person company, had done nothing wrong and was being “bullied” by local design company Unicolors.

The jury, after deliberation, found in favor of Unicolors on all claims. The jury rejected every defense offered by H&M and found that H&M willfully infringed Unicolors’ rights in its artwork. It then found H&M must pay to Unicolors $846,720 in damages.

Unicolors had offered to resolve the case for $790,000.00 before trial. H&M rejected the proposal and failed to make any offer in response. Unicolors will now file its post-trial motion for costs and attorneys’ fees.

Unicolors was represented at trial by Doniger / Burroughs partners Stephen M. Doniger, Esq. and Scott Alan Burroughs, Esq.

H&M was represented at trial by Nixon Peabody partner Staci Riordan, Esq. and counsel Aaron Brian, Esq.

For further information, please email info@donigerlawfirm.com.