This Forever 21 Lawsuit Is A Little Ironic

Forever 21 is embroiled in yet another copyright infringement controversy, but this time, there's a twist. The fast-fashion behemoth is the plaintiff, and not the defendant. The Los Angeles-based company filed a lawsuit in California earlier this week accusing multiple other retailers of co-opting its designs, reports The Fashion Law. Specifically, Forever 21 claims that California corporations C Luce and Cornerstone Apparel, along with a number of other unspecified parties, copied one of their original creations. The look in question? A pair of Ikat printed harem pants (pictured) that Forever 21 alleges were designed in-house. The retailer had the pant's Ikat pattern protected by a federal copyright registration back in 2013, and is now claiming that these other corporations “intentionally and knowingly” created products boasting “colorable imitations of Forever 21’s design.” In the lawsuit Forever 21 state that their success has made them "targets for unscrupulous individuals and entities." The brand argued that they have suffered substantial damages in the form of “destruction of trade, loss of income and profits, and dilution and destruction of the value of its rights." The retailer ultimately asked the court to order the destruction of the allegedly infringing articles, as well as to require the defendants to turn over any profits made by their sale. Enter, the irony. Forever 21 has quite a history with plagiarism, but the brand are usually on the other side of this sort of controversy. According to The Fashion Law, the retail giant has been sued "upwards of 50 times over the past several years for copyright infringement." Practice makes perfect?