World Market operator says center to keep name

One of the operators of the World Market Center said Monday the multibillion home furnishings market will keep its name despite a legal challenge from a national furniture and tchotchke chain with a similar moniker.

The lawsuit by the company that owns Cost Plus World Market chain of 286 stores in 35 states says the name and logo on the 10-story facade of the World Market Center in Las Vegas infringes on as many as 23 federal trademarks.

But Shawn Samson, co-founder and managing partner of the World Market Center, said the sides are close to an agreement that would preserve the globe logo and World Market name in Las Vegas.

The deal, "will not involve our dropping the name World Market Center," Samson said.

"It is to us a statement about the purpose of the project more than anything else," Samson said of the name of the two-year-old World Market Center. "The project is meant to be a showcase to the world."

Attorneys for Cost Plus Management Services of Oakland, Calif., wouldn't comment on Samson's remarks.

"As long as the talks are ongoing, we are declining to comment," said Leila Knox, an attorney listed on the lawsuit by Cost Plus.

Samson wouldn't elaborate on details of a pending settlement nor when it might become official.

"We expect a resolution in short order," Samson said.

The lawsuit dates to Feb. 7, when Cost Plus filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Nevada. Cost Plus sought an injunction to prevent World Market Center from using the name or globe logo that adorns the center's first building at 495 S. Grand Central Parkway. Cost Plus also wanted World Market Center to pay up to $1 million in damages "per counterfeit mark," according to court documents.

Cost Plus says it registered the marks as early as 1993. In May 2006, Cost Plus said it sent the World Market Center a cease-and-desist letter but received no substantive response. Cost Plus sent another letter in November after finding out World Market Center was going beyond its industry-only customer base by using the disputed name in connection with retail furniture sales.

The World Market Center is a hub for furniture trading in the Western United States.

It operates semiannual markets for furniture industry insiders called Las Vegas Market. The markets attract more than 50,000 attendees each.

Samson said the world designation is important to the center because it takes into account the globalization of the home furnishings industry.

The market operates, "for the whole world, not just Las Vegas, regionally and nationally."

About 15 percent of the 1,300 companies that exhibiting merchandise at the current market are from outside the United States, according to market officials.

The Las Vegas-based market competes with the High Point Market in High Point, N.C., a historic market that dates to 1889. High Point has 12 million square feet in 188 buildings.

Including temporary space and off-site exhibitions, World Market Center will have 6 million square feet by its 2008 summer market when it will have opened its third building with 2.1 million square feet.

The summer market opened Monday and goes through Friday at the World Market Center and Sands Expo and Convention Center.