Ivanka Trump must answer questions in shoe design lawsuit
Washington, June 25 (IANS) US President Donald Trump’s daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump must give a deposition in a lawsuit by an Italian shoemaker claiming her fashion label copied its designs, a federal judge has ruled.
Aquazurra Italia filed the suit against Ivanka Trump and her company in June 2016. It claims the brand has produced cheaper knockoffs of Aquazurra’s “coveted” and highly publicised shoe designs, CNN reported on Saturday.
At the heart of the lawsuit is Aquazurra’s “Wild Things” shoe. The company says the Ivanka Trump brand’s “Hettie” shoe too closely resembles the design.
Ivanka Trump’s lawyers have staunchly denied those allegations, according to court documents.
They said the Aquazurra design lacks the “distinctiveness” it would need to be protected by intellectual property laws. The lawyers have also said the case is a publicity stunt.
Earlier this month, Ivanka Trump’s lawyers argued that she should not be deposed because she “does not possess any unique information” about the design process for the shoes in question, reports CNN.
But the judge overseeing the case, US District Judge Katherine Forrest, denied that request in a ruling on Friday.
Forrest wrote that Ivanka Trump’s deposition is necessary because she was a company executive during the time the shoes were made and had “high-level, authoritative, personal involvement” in the company.
“Ms. Trump’s public statements regarding active and comprehensive brand management lead to a reasonable inference that the shoe at issue would not have been released without her approval,”the judge added.
Forrest ruled that Ivanka Trump’s deposition must be kept to under two hours and done in Washington, D.C., where she currently resides. It must be completed by October.