
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 28, 1994                   TAG: 9410280068
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PULASKI FURNITURE AGAIN FILES FOR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT

For the second time this month, Pulaski Furniture Corp. has filed lawsuits accusing a pair of competitors of trademark infringement for making furniture similar in shape and size to its own.

The company filed the complaints Thursday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke against Bassett Mirror Co. Inc. in Henry County and Collezione Europa USA of Cliffside Park, N.J.

The Pulaski-based manufacturer of home furnishings and clocks accuses the companies of copying its fossil stone tables.

Pulaski Furniture has been manufacturing the glass-top table with grey fossil trimming and a metal base for four years, the suit says. Sales of the table in that period have totaled $60 million, the suit said.

While the fossil stone used in Pulaski's tables is a natural material found in the Philippines and, therefore, available to other manufacturers, Pulaski is protesting other furniture makers copying the style elements of its tables. They come in a variety of sizes and styles. Typical among them is a cocktail table that would sell at retail for about $800.

"The defendant's imitation tables are likely to cause confusion or to cause mistake or to deceive," the suit said.

William Morten, president of Bassett Mirror, had not been served with the suit Thursday. But Morten said his 600-employee company doesn't make a fossil stone table similar to Pulaski Furniture's. Collezione Europa could not be reached for comment.

"The table we have is not the same style," he said in an interview.

The company earlier this month filed similar complaints against Chicago-based Philip Reinisch Co. and Alexvale Furniture Inc., located in Taylorsville, N.C. The company accused Alexvale of copying the fossil stone tables and Philip Reinisch of duplicating one of its curio cabinets.

Pulaski Furniture doesn't specify monetary damages in any of the suits, but does ask that it be awarded any profits the competitors make from selling the disputed items.

Pulaski asks the court to prevent the competitors from continuing to manufacture the furniture and to destroy any related advertisements or goods that exist.

An attorney for Pulaski Furniture declined to discuss any of the cases Thursday.

Staff writer Sandra Brown Kelly contributed to this story.

by CNB