Long Island distributor of yarns has sued British international textile giant Coats Holdings, Ltd., for breach of the parties’ decade-long exclusive distributorship agreement.
June 20, 2005 (Press Release) --
Roosevelt, NY, June 20, 2005 – A Long Island distributor of yarns and hand-knitting products announced today that it has sued British based, international textile giant Coats Holdings, Ltd., among other reasons, for breach of the parties’ decade-long exclusive distributorship agreement.
In papers filed in federal district court in Central Islip, the distributor, Roosevelt based Knitting Fever, alleges that Coats has engaged in a scheme to cut Knitting Fever out of its increasingly lucrative U.S. hand-knitting market. According to Knitting Fever’s complaint, Coats took products that Knitting Fever had been selling to retailers under the parties’ agreement and began selling them directly to the retailers under a different label. The complaint seeks both damages and injunctive relief.
Sion Elalouf, Knitting Fever’s president, explained that “we’ve spent an incredible amount of time, effort and our own money over the past ten years creating a viable U.S. market for Coats. Now that we’re finally succeeding and beginning to reap the benefits of our hard work, Coats is trying to grab everything for itself. That’s just plain wrong.”
This is not the first time that Coats, which averages in excess of $1 billion in sales per year, has been accused of improper business practices. The company was fined last October by the European Commission for violating the European Union’s competition rules by operating a cartel and unlawfully segmenting the European market from September 1994 through 1999. And, according to recent reports, the Harris Tweed Authority has sued Coats in Scotland to enjoin it from unlawfully using the Harris Tweed name on a number of its yarn products.
For further information, please contact Roy Klein at loorak@optonline.net
Roosevelt, NY, June 20, 2005 – A Long Island distributor of yarns and hand-knitting products announced today that it has sued British based, international textile giant Coats Holdings, Ltd., among other reasons, for breach of the parties’ decade-long exclusive distributorship agreement.
In papers filed in federal district court in Central Islip, the distributor, Roosevelt based Knitting Fever, alleges that Coats has engaged in a scheme to cut Knitting Fever out of its increasingly lucrative U.S. hand-knitting market. According to Knitting Fever’s complaint, Coats took products that Knitting Fever had been selling to retailers under the parties’ agreement and began selling them directly to the retailers under a different label. The complaint seeks both damages and injunctive relief.
Sion Elalouf, Knitting Fever’s president, explained that “we’ve spent an incredible amount of time, effort and our own money over the past ten years creating a viable U.S. market for Coats. Now that we’re finally succeeding and beginning to reap the benefits of our hard work, Coats is trying to grab everything for itself. That’s just plain wrong.”
This is not the first time that Coats, which averages in excess of $1 billion in sales per year, has been accused of improper business practices. The company was fined last October by the European Commission for violating the European Union’s competition rules by operating a cartel and unlawfully segmenting the European market from September 1994 through 1999. And, according to recent reports, the Harris Tweed Authority has sued Coats in Scotland to enjoin it from unlawfully using the Harris Tweed name on a number of its yarn products.
For further information, please contact Roy Klein at loorak@optonline.net
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