Opinion ID: 775415
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Herman Miller and the Eameses

Text: 6 Herman Miller has been manufacturing home and office furniture since 1905, originally as the Star Furniture Company and, after 1923, as the Herman Miller Furniture Company. From the mid-1940s until their deaths, Herman Miller had a business and personal relationship with noted California designer Charles Eames and his wife Ray Eames (and thereafter with the Eames estate). From 1961 to 1998, Herman Miller sold over $377 million of furniture designed by the Eameses. 7 In 1949, Herman Miller, Charles Eames, and the Evans Product Company signed an agreement giving Herman Miller all of Evans's rights to trademarks, trade names, trade secrets, and processes used in connection with Eames-designed furniture. From then on, Charles and Ray Eames designed furniture exclusively for Herman Miller. In 1990, Herman Miller signed an agreement with the Eames estate affirming that Herman Miller is the legal and equitable owner of rights to the EAMES 1 trademark, trade dress rights related to a lounge chair and ottoman designed by the Eameses, and rights of publicity in the names and likenesses of Charles and Ray Eames. 8 Charles and Ray Eames designed a number of pieces of furniture during their relationship with Herman Miller, including a chair known colloquially as the potato chip chair and a table known as the surfboard table. In 1956, Charles and Ray Eames designed a lounge chair and ottoman of leather and wood. Herman Miller claims that this is the most famous of the pieces of furniture designed by the Eameses for Herman Miller. The frames of the chair and ottoman were fabricated of curved, molded sheets of rosewood plywood, and the upholstery was cushioned leather. The chair tilts and is mounted on a swivel base. 9 Herman Miller cites nine different aspects of the lounge chair and ottoman that it claims make the lounge chair and ottoman worthy of trade dress protection: 10
11 (2) The molded shells being exposed from below the ottoman and from the back, sides, and underside of the chair. 12 (3) The edges of each molded shell being exposed from the front of the lounge chair and ottoman. 13 (4) Each of the molded shells being shaped like a flattened U. 14 (5) Each molded shell with cushioned upholstery. 15 (6) Each molded shell having buttons that create permanent creases in the upholstery. 16 (7) The back of the lounge chair consisting of two molded shells, connected in the rear by two exposed bars, each bar being angled to tilt the upper molded shell slightly forward of the lower molded shell. 17 (8) The angled bars spaced from the shells. 18 (9) Upholstered armrests that extend downwardly into the chair and that connect the two molded back shells to the molded seat shell. 19 Herman Miller presents numerous facts related to the lounge chair and ottoman in attempting to support its trade dress claim. It describes unsolicited media attention given to the lounge chair and ottoman when they were designed, including an interview by Arlene Francis of Charles and Ray Eames on NBC's Today Show on March 14, 1956, introducing the lounge chair and ottoman that Charles Eames stated he designed for Herman Miller. Herman Miller notes that its Eames lounge chair and ottoman won the grand prize at the Milan Triennial, and that its Eames lounge chair and ottoman are on permanent exhibit at several museums. 20 Descriptions of the lounge chair and ottoman in various books and magazines are also presented during the course of over five hundreds pages of the record. Many of these descriptions specifically identify the Eames lounge chair and ottoman as manufactured by Herman Miller and a number of the publications refer to the relationship between Herman Miller and the Eameses. Herman Miller also cites the Encyclopedia Americana, noting that it shows a photo of a lounge chair and ottoman with the phrase Herman Miller, Inc. below the photo. The encyclopedia entry states that Charles Eames developed a series of chairs for the Herman Miller Company during the 1940s and 1950s and that [h]is most famous design was a soft leather-upholstered swivel tilt lounge chair and ottoman. 21 Herman Miller also presents affidavits of design experts, historians, authors, and employees of Herman Miller recognizing Herman Miller as the only source for the lounge chair and ottoman. These affidavits attest to the unique nature and design of the lounge chair and ottoman and the fact that customers associate the Eames lounge chair and ottoman with Herman Miller. Herman Miller also offers evidence from various publications regarding owners of the Eames lounge chair and ottoman. In one interview, Indira Gandhi stated that she would sit in her Eames chair, referring to her Herman Miller Eames lounge chair and ottoman (although she did not mention Herman Miller specifically). Other articles describe celebrities, such as Barbara Walters, who own Herman Miller Eames chairs and ottomans (some specifically mention Herman Miller and others do not). Furthermore, Herman Miller offers articles mentioning that producers of two television series, the highly rated Frasier and the less highly rated It Takes Two, acquired Herman Miller-manufactured Eames lounge chairs and ottomans to furnish the sets of their shows. 22 Finally, Herman Miller offers evidence of specific recognition of the distinctiveness of the lounge chair and ottoman. In 1970, the Herman Miller Eames lounge chair and ottoman were declared among the One Hundred Greatest Products of All Time by a group of designers. In 1995, the Corporate Design Foundation, a non-profit research and educational organization, included in the premiere issue of its Journal of Business & Design a silhouette of the lounge chair as one of sixteen distinctive corporate shapes. The declaration was made in the context of a quiz in which readers were asked to match the shape with its identifying company. The correct match for the silhouette of the lounge chair was Eames lounge chair. Explaining the absence of Herman Miller from the answer, the publisher of the quiz stated, [i]n fact, the EAMES lounge chair and ottoman is so closely associated with Herman Miller, Inc., that the chair was referred to as the EAMES lounge chair. This symbol of Herman Miller was selected over the famous Herman Miller M design as an identifying corporate symbol. Also included in the quiz were the CBS eye, the Coca-Cola bottle, the Apple computer apple, the McDonald's arches, the Travelers Insurance Co. umbrella, and Mickey Mouse as a symbol of the Disney Company. B. The Market for Eames Furniture 23 Herman Miller notes it has produced the Eames lounge chair and ottoman continuously since 1956 and has sold over 100,000 lounge chairs and ottomans. In addition, it points out that the lounge chair and ottoman have gained popularity as collectors' items and antiques and that a strong secondary market has come into existence for Eames lounge chairs and ottomans produced by Herman Miller. Herman Miller produces evidence demonstrating that buyers in this market specifically seek out Herman Miller Eames lounge chairs and ottomans. 24 In addition to this secondary collectors' market for chairs and ottomans produced by Herman Miller, there is evidence of a market for reproductions of the chair and ottoman manufactured and sold by numerous other companies. Herman Miller offers several media articles pointing out to modern furniture consumers the existence of this secondary market of knockoffs of the lounge chair and ottoman and stating that Herman Miller produces the original. 25 For over thirty years, Herman Miller has been aware of this market for reproductions of the chair and ottoman. James Christenson, the general counsel of Herman Miller, gave deposition testimony stating that since 1971, Herman Miller has learned of at least sixty-six different entities that were selling furniture patterned after the Eames lounge chair and ottoman. Herman Miller wrote at least seventy-seven letters to these entities. In none of the letters did Herman Miller request that the company cease production or marketing of the lounge chairs and ottomans. Herman Miller demanded only that the entities cease using the EAMES trademark in marketing the reproductions. A recipient of one of the letters asked Herman Miller how it might subsequently sell its reproduction of the lounge chair and ottoman without infringing on the EAMES trademark. Herman Miller's intellectual property counsel responded: 'it is proper to refer to a chair designed by Charles Eames. Appropriate use of Mr. Eames' [sic] name would be as follows: Patterned after a chair designed by Charles Eames.' In addition, there is evidence of letters sent by Herman Miller's counsel to at least three furniture manufacturers and one distributor that also were known to be selling reproductions of the Eames lounge chair and ottoman. In each case, Herman Miller asked that the entity not use the EAMES trademark. C. Palazzetti and Its Business 26 Palazzetti is a New York corporation with its principal office in New York City and showrooms in New York, Long Island, Connecticut, Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Washington. Palazzetti markets reproductions of modern classic furniture popularized between 1950 and 1980. In late 1989, Palazzetti started marketing a reproduction of the Eames-designed lounge chair and ottoman. The lounge chair and ottoman have been manufactured by several Italian companies, always with the requirement that the product be an exact replica of the original Eames design. Beginning in January 1990, Palazzetti advertised the lounge chair and ottoman in The New York Times. Palazzetti continued to advertise the lounge chair and ottoman in that publication periodically during the next five years. 27 D. Herman Miller's Knowledge of Palazzetti's Activities 28 As early as March 1990, Herman Miller became aware that Palazzetti was manufacturing furniture patterned after designs created by Charles and Ray Eames. Herman Miller discovered that Palazzetti was advertising a reproduction of the Eames-designed molded plywood chair, known as the potato chip chair. From March 23, 1990 through June 5, 1990, Herman Miller and Palazzetti corresponded regarding Palazzetti's manufacturing and marketing of the potato chip chair. 29 In Herman Miller's first letter to Palazzetti, Herman Miller's counsel demanded that Palazzetti immediately cease and desist all further use of the designation EAMES . . . in your advertising. We also demand that you immediately cease and desist from all further sale of the goods which simulate the EAMES . . . designs. After a response from Palazzetti indicating that it was making fair use of the name Eames, Herman Miller responded with a letter stating that it may be possible to resolve this dispute simply by having you indicate clearly in your literature that your products are in no way associated with Herman Miller, Inc. and are not the authorized or licensed versions of Charles Eames' [sic] designs. 30 Palazzetti's counsel responded to Herman Miller's second letter by stating that Palazzetti did not intend to change its practices where it is not legally required to do so. Herman Miller then sent a third letter to Palazzetti requesting that Palazzetti indicate in its marketing material that the product is in fact a reproduction, and not a product manufactured by the official licensee, Herman Miller, Inc. Palazzetti responded by a letter dated June 5, 1990, in which it continued to refuse to accede to Herman Miller's requests, and repeated that it was making fair use of the name Eames. 31 Herman Miller did not respond to Palazzetti's final letter of June 5, 1990. Thinking that Herman Miller either abandoned its claims or recognized the validity of Palazzetti's position, Palazzetti continued to sell the lounge chair and ottoman and other Eames-designed furniture and to advertise the lounge chair and ottoman in The New York Times. 32 Herman Miller presents testimony that it had no knowledge of Palazzetti's advertising of its Eames-designed lounge chair and ottoman until 1994. When Herman Miller discovered Palazzetti's advertising of Eames-designed furniture in 1990, it only discovered advertising of the potato chip chair. Palazzetti advertised its lounge chair and ottoman in The New York Times for four days in 1990, three days in 1991, none in 1992, fourteen days in 1993, and nineteen days by September 1994. 33 Herman Miller again wrote Palazzetti on September 29, 1994, demanding that Palazzetti cease use of the designation C. Eames. Palazzetti declined to do so, but stated that it would make clear that it only used the Eames name to identify the original designer. Herman Miller did not respond to the letter and, in June 1995, filed its initial complaint in this case. 34 During discovery, Herman Miller found various reference to Eames in Palazzetti's advertisements, catalog, poster, price list, and invoices. Herman Miller also discovered customer letters referring to Palazzetti's furniture as an Eames chair and ottoman and as an Eames chair. In addition, customers in Palazzetti's stores asked to purchase Palazzetti's Eames products. 35 Herman Miller refers to evidence that Palazzetti was aware that Herman Miller was using the EAMES trademark when Palazzetti began to manufacture and sell its reproductions. In addition, Herman Miller notes that none of Palazzetti's printed materials making reference to its Eames-designed furniture indicate that the furniture is a reproduction and that it was only when customers were in Palazzetti's showrooms that Palazzetti employees referred to the products as reproductions.