Southern Marsh drops one of its trademark infringement lawsuits

Southern Marsh Collection, a clothing retailer headquartered in Baton Rouge, has dropped its trademark infringement lawsuit against Alabama-based Comfort Cotton.

According to documents filed in Baton Rouge federal court, Southern Marsh voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice on March 5―an action that prohibits the company from refiling the same lawsuit in the future.

The retailer says all of its pending legal claims against Comfort Cotton have been “amicably resolved.” The filings do not detail how the two parties settled the matter.

In its initial complaint, Southern Marsh alleged that Comfort Cotton, also a clothing retailer, was selling products with logos that closely resembled its own duck logo to a class of customers similar to its own—customers “interested in outdoor apparel”—thereby misleading customers to believe the products in question were affiliated with Southern Marsh.

Southern Marsh had been seeking injunctive relief prohibiting Comfort Cotton from using marks that are “identical or confusingly similar” to its duck logo.

This wasn’t the first time Southern Marsh had sued over an issue of this sort. The Baton Rouge federal court docket shows 11 other cases dating back to 2014 against various companies alleging copyright or trademark infringement.

While the lawsuit against Comfort Cotton has been dropped, Southern Marsh still has three active trademark infringement cases in Baton Rouge federal court. The defendants in those cases are Virginia-based Hunterman’s, Alabama-based Southern Proper and North Carolina-based Dixie Decoys.