Victoria’s Secret is being sued by Debra MacKinnon, a lingerie designer who says the company ripped off her invention for a fancy push-up bra.
In an interview with ABC News, MacKinnon explained that she’d created a “state-of-the-art push-up insert” that she pitched to Victoria’s Secret; she alleges that the lingerie behemoth later stole her invention and began hawking “lower quality knock-offs” in their products. Naturally, MacKinnon’s pissed.
On Monday, the bra designer filed a complaint in the U.S. Southern District Court of New York, detailing how she pitched the invention to VS before she received a patent but offered VS exclusive licensing rights if they wanted to make a deal. She says she the two reached an agreement, through which she sold “tens of thousands” of her products to VS between 2011 and 2012. She claims VS then ended their relationship and began cranking out knock-offs.
Not only is MacKinnon seeking damages and Victoria’s Secret’s “profits from the sale of the bra” in her complaint; she also wants ownership of the design patent transferred from the company to her.
“This specific case is a classic David and Goliath story where you have an entrepreneur and a large U.S. conglomerate,” Ivan Parron, an entertainment and intellectual property attorney not associated with the lawsuit, told ABC News.
Victoria’s Secret has not commented on the lawsuit.
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Image via ABC News.