Apparel retail group Chico’s FAS will continue to pursue legal action against rival retailer Caché over the alleged theft of trade secrets, the company says.
Chico’s said it would take action in New York’s Supreme Court against two former employees of its White House Black Market chain, despite withdrawing its claim for a preliminary injunction in the case.
The suit alleges that the two ex-employees, who joined Caché in autumn 2009, stole trade secrets, proprietary designs and confidential information from White House Black Market.
“We withdrew our request for preliminary injunctive relief because the proceedings could not be completed in time to enjoin Caché from selling through products developed from our confidential information,” said Donna Noce, brand president of White House Black Market.
“However, our former employees’ return of thousands of pages of WH|BM documents including our proprietary designs and confidential information during the discovery process confirms the strength of our case.
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By GlobalData“We intend to proceed in order to protect the interests of our company, our shareholders, and the creative efforts and hard work of our employees.”
Caché said it believed the lawsuit had been filed to undermine the company in the marketplace.
“We will continue to vigorously defend our position against Chico’s and White House Black Market,” said a spokesperson.
“We believe Chico’s is using baseless claims to impair our reputation. This lawsuit is frivolous and a waste of shareholder money and consumer tax dollars.”
