It might be more expensive, but sometimes it really pays to buy name-brand.
French luxury brand Louis Vuitton has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the use of a Louis Vuitton knockoff bag in "The Hangover: Part II."
According to the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York on Thursday, an airport scene in the film makes use of a counterfeit bag made by a company named Diophy, which is currently being sued by Louis Vuitton for trademark infringement.
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During the scene, Zach Galifianakis' character, Alan, warns the character Stu (played by Ed Helms), "Careful, that is … that is a Louis Vuitton." The French company objects to both the movies use of its trademark, and the characterization of the bag as a real Louis Vuitton. According to the suit, Warner Bros. is "explicitly misleading the public about the source of the Diophy Bag" and undermining the company's enforcement efforts against counterfeits of its product.
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According to the suit (which can be read here), Louis Vuitton objected to Warner's after the film's opening, but the company still released the film on DVD with the offending footage included.
Citing a previous lawsuit over the film — during which Warner's said it was considering altering a scene that featured a tattoo that might have violated a copyright — Louis Vuitton argues that altering the airport scene to eliminate the company's trademarked design would have been an easy fix.
In the suit, the French company is asking that the court permanently enjoin Warner's from using its marks in any way, and order the company to surrender all copies of the film containing the marks. It is also asking for triple damages on all profits that Warner Bros. may have amassed from using Vuitton's marks, plus attorneys' fees and court costs.
This is far from the only lawsuit that "The Hangover Part II" — a huge hit that has amassed a worldwide take of more than $500 million — has sparked. In addition to the tattoo lawsuit, which was settled in June, the company was sued in October by an aspiring actor who claims that the plot was stolen from his life experiences.
Warner Bros. had no comment for TheWrap on the lawsuit.