National bridal chain David’s Bridal has been accused of infringing designs for “convertible” bridesmaid’s dresses that belong to one Jenny Yoo. Miss Yoo claims that David's Bridal is producing knock-offs of her convertible dresses and selling them at its stores, so Jenny Yoo Collection is suing David’s Bridal in U.S. District Court in New York for patent, trademark and trade dress (no pun, intended or otherwise) infringement.
We had to ask: What is a “convertible” dress? Well, it is quite ingenious. It is a dress – not just a bridesmaid’s dress as it turns out – that allows the wearer to rearrange the dress into different looks. One version of Jenny Yoo’s dresses permits the wearer to adjust the neckline from daring and revealing to prim and proper.
The backbone of Ms. Yoo’s lawsuit are two U.S. Design Patents, D698,120 for a “Dress” and D744,723 for a “Convertible Dress,” and two Utility Patent Applications, 13/672,422 and 14/720,453, both for “Multi-Use Garment.” If you click on the patent numbers, you can link to the patents at Google Patents. We have nothing witty or urbane to add. We just find the concept most intriguing.