ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 25, 1995                   TAG: 9507250069
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

REAL THING CONQUERS KNOCKOFFS

The Lane Co. Inc., an Altavista furniture maker well-known for its hope chests, said Monday it has won an injunction against companies it contends were making and selling counterfeit copies of the trademark item.

According to Sheldon Klein, Lane's Washington, D.C.-based attorney, the settlement included an injunction prohibiting importer Fred Meyer Inc. of Portland, Ore., and exporter Victory Land Enterprise Co. Ltd. of Taiwan from continuing to ship or sell cedar chests featuring designs copyrighted by Lane. It also orders a payment totalling $75,000 to Lane from the two companies.

Lane brought suit in federal court in Portland against the two companies when chests bearing a heart and floral design almost identical to a copyrighted Lane design were discovered in Fred Meyer stores in the western United States, Klein said.

According to the judgment, Fred Meyer purchased 2,463 of these chests from Victory Land in Taiwan beginning in October 1992.

The design, which is used on Lane's best-selling cedar chest, "Bountiful," is a registered trademark of The Lane Co., Klein said.

The cedar-lined particle-board chests were manufactured in Taiwan by Yu Jaan Furniture Ltd. Lane's suit against that company has not been settled, but a criminal investigation is continuing in Taiwan, Klein said.

According to Lane, Taiwanese law-enforcement officials raided Victory Land's showroom in Taipei and seized one counterfeit chest and related documents. The decorated front panels of more than 700 knock-off chests were seized in January and later destroyed by the U.S. Customs Service after Fred Meyer recalled the pieces from its stores. According to press information from Lane, a video tape of the destruction is available, presumably as proof.

The counterfeit chests were selling for about $150, Klein said. Authentic Lane chests retail for $399 to $599.

This is the second time that Lane has brought suit over counterfeit chests, Klein said. A similar case was settled several years ago with different parties. 


 by CNB