Franck Muller et Montres Allison
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écrit par Bono le 23 mai 2005 16:46:18:
May 11, 2005
New York, New York
Franck Muller USA, Inc. announced on Monday that its attorneys Michael C. Miller and Dennis H. Cavanaugh have filed a lawsuit in United States District Court in the Southern District of New York in the court of Judge Berman on May 6, 2005 against Montres Allison, MA Luxury Timepieces, and Terry L. Allison, Jr. for trademark disparagement, unfair competition, and defamation engaged in by defendants. Franck Muller USA, Inc. is seeking five million US dollars for compensatory damages. Montres Allison is located in Colorado, USA.
The suit stems from a press release issued on January 3, 2005 by Montres Allison in which the Allison press release stated: "Many of the Swiss watch manufacturers use the term "Swiss Made" on their watches. The use of this term is misleading due to the requirement of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry that only 50% of the value of the "Swiss Made" watch movement must actually be manufactured in Switzerland. This has allowed many of the top Swiss watch companies like Franck Muller to deceive the American public into thinking that the highest quality components are manufactured in Switzerland while they are secretly subcontracting the manufacture of many of their components in Russia and the far east."
The lawsuit also refers to the following paragraph in the Montres Allison press release as an allegation of Franck Muller having ties to terrorism: "In a recent interview, a company representative stated "Do a google search for the term "Swiss Made scam" to learn about the unethical activities perpetrated by the Swiss watch industry including their ties to terrorism and then decide where you want to spend your money."
Franck Muller, the individual, is a French national who started the Franck Muller brand with Vartan Sirmakes, an Armenian National. Muller and Sirmakes have been involved in bitter disputes and scandals that have finally resolved themselves recently.
Terry Allison, founder of Montres Allison and a United States citizen stated in response to the lawsuit that the comments in the press release regarding the Russian movements were simply repeated from sources such as Jorge Merino of timezone.com, Stan Sirody of watchnet.com, Le Temps (a Swiss newspaper), Le Matin (a Swiss newspaper), thepurists.com, Worldtempus.com, and a German television broadcast among other sources. Allison stated that the terrorism comment was not directed at Muller and Muller's name did not even appear in the paragraph regarding ties to terrorism, but was repeated from a washingtontimes.com article in which Metalor, the largest precious metal Swiss watch case manufacturer was discovered to have laundered money for Saddam Hussein. "The lawsuit has no basis, and we will defend our interests fully" said Allison.
Franck Muller nor Vartan Sirmakes would return phone calls at this time regarding this lawsuit. The contact telephone number for Franck Muller Geneve is 011 41 2 2959 8888.
Both Muller and Allison have been very controversial characters in gaining their celebrity in the luxury watch industry with Muller as the heavyweight champion and Allison as the up and coming contender. This battle should be very interesting to watch.
Franck Muller USA can be contacted at 212-463-5560 for further comments. Montres Allison USA can be contacted at 303-582-5217.
Réponses:
- Tres savoureux ! c'est ce qui s'appelle de la communication !! gverso 23.5.2005 17:10 (0)