Coach Sues Target for Alleged Copies of Handbags

Coach Inc. is suing low-price retailer Target Corp. over bags the luxury handbag maker says too closely resemble its own designs.

Coach wants Target to stop selling the bags and pay an undetermined amount in damages, injunctive relief and attorney fees, the New York-based company said in a complaint it filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The bags in question resemble Coach’s Ergo bags, launched in 2008 and marketed as ergonomically correct, and its Signature Patchwork bags, which have patches in different fabrics and also were introduced in 2008, Coach said.

Target began selling handbags this summer with “exact and/or confusingly similar reproductions of Coach’s Ergo designs and Signature Patchwork designs,” Coach claims.

Coach also sued Target in 2006 claiming the retailer was selling a copy of one of its handbags. The companies settled the case.

Minneapolis-based Target did not have an immediate comment on the lawsuit.

Coach shares rose 91 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $31.99 during midday trading Monday. Target shares rose 72 cents to $46.74.

10/5/2009 1:00 PM MAE ANDERSON, AP Retail Writer NEW YORK