UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

MIDDLE DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA

HOOKER FURNITURE CORPORATION §

§ Civil Action No: 1:20-cv-451
Plaintiff, §
§
v. § COMPLAINT
§ FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT
GTR LEATHER, INC., § AND
§ DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL
Defendant. §
§
§

NOW COMES Plaintiff Hooker Furniture Corporation by and through the undersigned

counsel and complains against Defendant GTR Leather, Inc. as follows:

THE PARTIES

1. Plaintiff Hooker Furniture Corporation (“Hooker Furniture”) is a Virginia

business corporation, with principal places of business at 440 Commonwealth Boulevard East,

Martinsville, Virginia and at 210 East Commerce Avenue, Suite C1058, High Point, North

Carolina 27260.

2. Defendant GTR Leather, Inc., (“Defendant”) is a California business corporation

registered to do and doing business in North Carolina under North Carolina Secretary of State

Identification Number 1739642, and listing its registered agent address as 176 Mine Lake Court,

Suite #100, Raleigh, North Carolina 27615. Upon information and belief, Defendant has and

maintains a regular and established place of business at its furniture showroom located at 211

East Commerce Avenue, Suite 3417, High Point, North Carolina 27260.

3. Upon information and belief, Defendant and its subsidiaries, affiliates and/or

business units manufacture, import, distribute, offer for sale, and sell furniture products in the

United States, including in North Carolina and this judicial district as alleged herein.

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 JURISDICTION AND VENUE

4. The Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this action under 28 U.S.C. § 1331

and 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a) because this action arises under the laws of the United States, including

the Patent Act, as amended, 35 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., including 35 U.S.C. § 271.

5. This Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendant because Defendant has

regular, continuous, and systematic contacts with the State of North Carolina and this judicial

district, and because Defendant conducts regular, continuous, and systematic business in the

State of North Carolina and this judicial district, including by owning and/or leasing, occupying,

maintaining and using commercial showroom space in High Point, North Carolina, by importing

furniture products to and distributing products from Defendant’s North Carolina warehouse, by

regularly registering for, attending, exhibiting products at, and transacting business with

customers and prospective customers at the High Point Furniture Market, and by regularly

transacting business with customers and prospective customers in the State of North Carolina.

6. This Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendant because, upon information

and belief, Defendant imports the Infringing Products (as defined herein) into North Carolina and

Defendant makes or has made, uses, offers to sell, or sells the Infringing Products to customers

in North Carolina or through retailers that deliver the Infringing Products to consumers in North

Carolina.

7. This Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendant because the wrongful acts

alleged herein occurred in the State of North Carolina and this judicial district, and the harm to

Hooker Furniture arose in the State of North Carolina and this judicial district. Accordingly, this

Court has general and specific jurisdiction over Defendant for all purposes of this Complaint.

8. Venue is proper in this judicial district under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391 and 1400 because

Defendant has its regular and established place of business in this judicial district and upon

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information and belief the acts of infringement by Defendant as alleged herein were committed

and continue to be committed within this judicial district.

HOOKER FURNITURE’S DESIGN PATENT RIGHTS

9. Hooker Furniture has been in business nearly 100 years and is a market-leading

producer of innovative, original, and high-quality furniture items. Hooker Furniture’s

investments in research, design and development have led to many innovative furniture designs,

including the design at issue in this case.

10. Beginning on or about 2018, Hooker Furniture designed, developed and created a

new furniture design (the “Patented Design”), featuring ornamental visual aspects of a design for

furniture seating configurations, including a sofa, chair, sectional, loveseat or other similar

furniture, which is eligible for and is now accorded protection under United States patent laws,

as set forth herein.

11. The Patented Design is a new design that re-interprets traditional furniture

elements, including Chesterfield-style sofa designs, seat and arm configurations, panel designs,

and tufted surface treatments, as applied to contemporary power motion seating arrangements, in

a manner that results in an ornamental design that is novel and not obvious to one of skill in the

art of furniture design.

12. On May 19, 2020, United States Patent No. D884,378 (“the ’378 Patent”) entitled

“ADJUSTABLE SEAT” was duly and legally issued to Hooker Furniture by the United States

Patent and Trademark Office.

13. A true and accurate copy of the ’378 Patent is attached hereto and incorporated

herein by reference as Exhibit A.

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 14. The ’378 Patent issued from Application No. 29/646,282, filed with the USPTO

on May 3, 2018, and the ’378 Patent is and has been at all times since its date of issue, valid and

enforceable.

15. Hooker Furniture is the applicant and owner by assignment from the inventors of

all right, title, and interest in and to the ’378 Patent, Hooker Furniture has the benefit of all rights

of the ’378 Patent as the owner thereof, and Hooker Furniture has the right and standing to bring

this suit for patent infringement thereon.

16. The ’378 Patent claims, inter alia, the ornamental appearance and visual

characteristics of the configuration and ornamentation of the adjustable seat embodied in the

Patented Design, as set forth in the ’378 Patent.

17. The ’378 Patent is presumed valid.

DEFENDANT’S INFRINGEMENT OF HOOKER FURNITURE’S PATENTED DESIGN

18. Without authorization from Hooker Furniture, Defendant has been and/or is

currently manufacturing, importing, distributing, offering for sale, and/or selling furniture

products throughout the United States, including at least what is identified as Defendant’s

“Model M198” product, that have designs that violate Hooker Furniture’s rights in the Patented

Design (hereinafter the “Infringing Products”).

19. Examples of depictions of Defendant’s Infringing Products are set forth in

Exhibit B which is attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference.

20. Upon information and belief, Defendant is currently distributing and selling the

Infringing Products, including through the use of Defendant’s showroom in North Carolina and

Defendant’s warehouse in North Carolina, and/or through Defendant’s distributors’ retail stores,

showrooms, or warehouses in their efforts to distribute and sell the Infringing Products.

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 21. The overall appearance of the Patented Design, as claimed in the ’378 Patent, and

the corresponding designs of the Infringing Products are substantially the same.

22. An ordinary observer will perceive the overall appearance of the Patented Design,

as claimed in the ‘378 Patent, and the corresponding designs of the Defendant’s Infringing

Products to be substantially the same.

23. To the extent that any specific details or individual elements of the design of the

Infringing Products, when viewed in isolation, differ from the Patented Design, any such

differences do not alter the overall impression, as viewed by an ordinary observer, that the design

of the Infringing Products is substantially the same as the Patented Design claimed in the ’378

Patent.

24. Upon information and belief, at all times relevant to Hooker Furniture’s claims,

Defendant had access to Hooker Furniture’s Patented Design at least by virtue of the display of

Hooker Furniture’s Patented Design on Hooker Furniture’s website, at retailers, and at trade

shows, as well as reported in the industry media.

25. Upon information and belief, Defendant purposefully and intentionally designed

the Infringing Products to have an overall visual appearance that is substantially similar to

Hooker Furniture’s Patented Design as claimed in the ’378 Patent.

26. On April 3, 2020, Hooker Furniture sent Defendant a letter notifying Defendant of

Hooker Furniture’s ownership of its new design and the pending protection anticipated under the

’378 Patent, providing Defendant with a reasonable window to take remedial action prior to the

filing of this Complaint.

27. Defendant has actual notice of the ’378 Patent, at least as early as the date of

receipt of this Complaint.

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 28. Hooker Furniture has and will continue to suffer actual monetary damages as a

result of Defendant’s conduct and actions, including as a result of lost sales and/or lost royalty

revenue that would have been derived from the Patented Design or products embodying the

Patented Design, but for the conduct of Defendant as described herein.

COUNT I
INFRINGEMENT OF DESIGN PATENT (35 U.S.C. § 271(A))

29. Hooker Furniture incorporates by reference the allegations contained in the

paragraphs 1-28, as if stated fully herein.

30. Defendant has directly infringed and continues to infringe, either literally or

through the doctrine of equivalents, the ’378 Patent by importing the Infringing Products into the

United States or by making or having made, using, offering to sell and/or selling the Infringing

Products within the United States, including in this judicial district, in violation of 35 U.S.C. §

271(a).

31. These acts of Defendant as alleged herein constitute direct infringement of

Hooker Furniture’s ’378 Patent under 35 U.S.C. § 271(a), for which Defendant has no

permission, license, or consent from Hooker Furniture.

32. Hooker Furniture has suffered damages by reason of Defendant’s infringement of

the ’378 Patent for which Hooker Furniture is entitled to relief, including under 35 U.S.C. §§ 284

and 289, and Hooker Furniture will suffer additional and irreparable damages unless Defendant

is enjoined by this Court from continuing the infringement of the ’378 Patent.

33. Defendant’s acts of infringement have caused and continue to cause irreparable

harm to Hooker Furniture, and Hooker Furniture does not have an adequate remedy at law. Upon

information and belief, the Defendant will continue to infringe the ’378 Patent unless enjoined

by the Court, and Hooker Furniture is entitled to an injunction pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 283

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restraining Defendant, its officers, agents, employees, and all persons acting in concert with them

from engaging in further infringement of the ’378 Patent.

34. Hooker Furniture is entitled to recover damages sustained as a result of

Defendant’s infringement of the ’378 Patent that are adequate to compensate for the

infringement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 284, and damages for infringement of a design patent,

including all Defendant’s profits resulting from the infringement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 289,

but in any event no less than a reasonable royalty pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 284.

35. The circumstances of this case justify enhanced damages under 35 U.S.C. § 284,

of up to three times the damages found or assessed, with the appropriate resulting award.

Defendant has been informed of the existence of the ’378 Patent as well as its infringement of

that patent, and upon information and belief Defendant continues to sell its Infringing Products

with full knowledge of its infringement. Hooker Furniture is entitled to recover enhanced

damages of up to three times the amount found or assessed pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 284.

36. The circumstances of Defendant’s infringement of the ’378 Patent renders this

case an exceptional case under 35 U.S.C. § 285, with the appropriate resulting award. Defendant

has been informed of the existence of the ’378 Patent as well as its infringement of that patent,

and upon information and belief Defendant continues to sell its Infringing Products with full

knowledge of its infringement. Hooker Furniture is entitled to recover its costs, expenses, and

reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred in bringing the present action pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 285.

DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL

Plaintiff Hooker Furniture Corporation hereby demands a trial by jury on all claims that

may be tried before a jury.

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 PRAYER FOR RELIEF

FOR THESE REASONS, Plaintiff Hooker Furniture Corporation respectfully requests:

A. A judgment that Defendant has infringed the patented design claimed in the ’378

Patent in violation of 35 U.S.C. § 271(a) and is liable for all remedies therefor;

B. A judgment that Defendant’s actions in infringement of the ’378 Patent were

willful, intentional and knowing, including in violation of 35 U.S.C. § 285;

C. The issuance of a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Defendant, any

of its respective officers, agents, privies, shareholders, principals, directors, licensees, attorneys,

servants, employees, customers, distributors, affiliates, subsidiaries, successors, and assigns, and

all persons acting in concert or participation with any of them, and any entity owned or

controlled by Defendant, who receives actual notice of the order by personal service or

otherwise, from the continuing infringements of the claim of the ’378 Patent pursuant to 35

U.S.C. § 283, or from using Hooker Furniture’s Patented Design or any substantially similar

variation thereof in connection with the manufacture, production, dissemination, or distribution

importation, sale, offer for sale, of any furniture products; or from assisting, aiding, or abetting

any other person or business entity in engaging in or performing any of the activities referred to

herein or taking any action that contributes to any of the activities referred to herein;

D. That the Court in accordance with its judgement direct the United States Customs

Service to block all importation of unauthorized articles which infringe the ’378 Patent;

E. That that the Court order an accounting of the total profit of Defendant arising

from Defendant’s aforementioned infringement of Hooker Furniture’s design patent, and that

such total profits be awarded to Hooker Furniture pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 289; or alternatively

that the Court order an accounting for all monies received by or on behalf of Defendant and all

damages sustained by Hooker Furniture as a result of Defendant’s aforementioned infringements

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alleged pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 271(a), and that such monies and damages be awarded to Hooker

Furniture;

F. That the Court order that interest and costs from May 19, 2020 to the date of final

judgment be assessed against Defendant, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 284;

G. That the Court declare this an exceptional case and order that Defendant pay to

Hooker Furniture any enhanced damages, reasonable attorneys’ fees, and/or costs, as may be

permitted under 35 U.S.C. § 284 or 285;

H. That Hooker Furniture be awarded its costs and expenses in bringing this action,

including an award of Hooker Furniture’s attorneys’ fees for bringing and prosecuting this

action;

I. That Hooker Furniture be awarded interest, including pre-judgment interest, on

the foregoing sums; and

J. That Hooker Furniture be awarded such other and further relief as the Court may

deem just and proper.

This the 21st day of May, 2020.

Respectfully submitted,

By: /s/ Stephen F. Shaw

Jack B. Hicks (NC Bar No. 14129)
Charles A. Burke (NC Bar No. 19366)
Stephen F. Shaw (NC Bar No. 41582)
WOMBLE BOND DICKINSON (US) LLP
300 North Greene Street, Suite 1900
Greensboro, North Carolina 27401
Telephone: 336-574-8052
jack.hicks@wbd-us.com
charles.burke@wbd-us.com
stephen.shaw@wbd-us.com

ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF HOOKER

FURNITURE CORPORATION

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 EXHIBIT A

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 EXHIBIT B

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