No love lost: Companies contest ‘girls’ night in’ phrase
Just who is the winner at staging "The Ultimate Girls' Night In"?
Both Las Vegas-based Passion Parties and archrival Pure Romance trade boasts that women can have more fun buying their "sophisticated lines of romance enhancement products," as Pure Romance delicately describes it. But to hear lawyers tell it, Passion Parties got there first.
The company filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court late Tuesday claiming that Pure Romance has poached the "Ultimate Girls' Night In" phrase for which it registered a trademark five years ago. According to the court papers, Passion Parties said it asked Pure Romance in November 2011 to quit using the phrase for its Tupperware-style parties to sell the accessories, but received only what was described as limited compliance.
A Google search combining Pure Romance and the phrase still turns up numerous Pure Romance independent salespeople who continue to use the phase. As a result, Passion Parties in November sent another letter demanding that Pure Romance halt the alleged infringement, culminating in the lawsuit.
Both oversee multilevel sales organizations, in which consultants earn money not only for sales but also recruiting other consultants, as well as conducting online sales.
Both have similar product lines. The Pure Romance catalog, for example, includes a vibrating foam sponge for bathing, fur-lined handcuffs and the "frequent flyer sex swing." The shopping section of Passion Parties' website, limited to people 18 and older, lists fishnet body stockings, the "amazing hot massager" and the OMG vibrator with triple motors.
Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at
toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.
