MD casino blames vendor for Louis Vuitton-style giveaway bags

The companies that own and manage Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland blamed a promotional goods vendor for selling it the bags that led French fashion house Louis Vuitton to sue the casino.

In a third-party complaint filed Tuesday, The Cordish Companies and PPE Casino Resorts Maryland said they paid $167,162 for the “Lux Monogram” bags, which bear flower icons that are similar to Louis Vuitton’s signature branding. The Hanover casino is seeking indemnification from Las Vegas-based Power Promotions LLC for any judgment entered in favor of Louis Vuitton in the trademark infringement lawsuit.

The casino and its developer also say Power Promotions breached their sale contract, which, they wrote in the complaint, included “an understanding that Power Promotions vetted and cleared all of its products, and that its designs were compliant with any and all relevant laws and regulations.”

In further discussions, they say, Power Promotions’ principal Dean Katris “indicated that he had not retained counsel to vet and clear the design” for intellectual property compliance but instead outsourced that review to the overseas manufacturer that made the bags.

“Power Promotions rejected PPE’s tender of defense and indemnity and has refused to defend litigation for which it is answerable over as the ‘seller’ of the Lux Monogram bags,” the casino’s lawyers wrote in their complaint.

Paris-based Louis Vuitton sent the casino a cease-and-desist in April and sued the companies in June over a promotional campaign called “The Art of Luxury” that included bags imprinted with the fashion house’s “three flowers” branding, replacing the designer’s “LV” icon with the casino’s “Live!” logo. Their lawsuit in U.S. District Court for Maryland also targets another Maryland Live! campaign from May in which casino patrons could enter to win an “array of purportedly authentic Louis Vuitton” products.

Power Promotions, which specializes in supplying promotional items to casinos, did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday. It did not have an attorney listed in court records.

The matter was set for a scheduling conference Wednesday morning, though U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar canceled the call in light of the Anne Arundel County casino filing its third-party complaint.

The complaint against Power Promotions comes after Maryland Live! retained new lawyers in the trademark dispute. The casino and the developer are now represented by James P. Ulwick and Matthew A. Haven of Baltimore-based Kramon & Graham, P.A. The fashion designer is represented by a team of attorneys from Steptoe LLP.