Celebrity Designer Hutton Wilkinson and Tony Duquette, Inc. File Copyright Infringement and Unfair Competition Suit Against Elite Home Products and Carleton Varney and Dorothy Draper Over Duquette Original Malachite Design

NEWARK, N.J., Dec. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebrity Designer, Hutton Wilkinson, as holder of various intellectual property rights including those associated with the late designer and artist Tony Duquette, today filed suit in the United States District Court for New Jersey against Elite Home Products, Inc. and Carleton Varney By The Yard, Inc. and Dorothy Draper & Company, Inc. for copyright and trade dress infringement, unfair competition, and other federal and state causes of action related to Wilkinson's copyright and Duquette's original malachite design for fabric.

Wilkinson alleges that Elite, Varney, and Draper colluded to infringe upon the Wilkinson copyright and trademark when Varney and Draper ordered Wilkinson's proprietary malachite fabric which was reproduced from the original design by Duquette and removed the Wilkinson name and trademark, replacing and commercializing it as a Varney Draper fabric bearing the Draper trademark. The lawsuit alleges that Varney and Draper knowingly and willfully infringed upon the well-known Wilkinson copyright in the original malachite design created by Duquette and replaced the Wilkinson trademark in commerce. It further alleges that these acts were done without permission or license from Wilkinson in connection with sales of Varney and Draper malachite fabric worldwide and in connection with a Draper interior design commission using Wilkinson's malachite fabric on furniture at the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach where it was identified and promoted as having been created by Varney and Draper. Because of Wilkinson's and Duquette's unique association with this original malachite design in their work and products, Wilkinson has licensed the design for an exclusive line of bedding sold on Home Shopping Network and as textile fabric sold by Jim Thompson Thai Silk. Damages and injunctive relief are sought. 

"We filed this lawsuit to enforce our trademark rights and to ensure that our valuable copyrights are protected," said Hutton Wilkinson, creative director and president of Tony Duquette, Inc.

About Hutton Wilkinson
Hutton Wilkinson is a prominent designer and author and is the creative director and president of Tony Duquette, Inc. He designs fine jewelry as well as a collection of home furnishings for Kohler/Baker furniture, textiles for Jim Thompson Thai Silk, a carpet collection with Patterson Flynn Martin, a license for tableware and decorative accessories with Mottahedeh & Company, and other licenses. Wilkinson also sells lines of furniture bedding and jewelry on Home Shopping Network. Two bestselling books on Tony Duquette entitled "Tony Duquette" and "More Is More" published by Abrams Books, a book on jewelry also by Abrams entitled "Hutton Wilkinson Jewelry", and a two-volume novel co-written with Flynn Kuhnert entitled "The Walk To Elsie's."

About Tony Duquette, Inc.
Tony Duquette was an internationally renowned designer, artist, and arbiter of style whose work included designs for clients such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Mary Pickford, Doris Duke, J. Paul Getty, and Elizabeth Arden.  He won a Tony Award for costume design for the original Broadway production of ''Camelot'' and was the first American to be given a one-man show at the Louvre in Paris. The company Tony Duquette, Inc. under the direction of Hutton Wilkinson has continued to create, license, distribute, and sell archival and new products around the world to purveyors of luxury, fashion, and home furnishings. Tony Duquette fine jewelry is sold by Kentshire at Bergdorf Goodman.

Wilkinson and Tony Duquette are represented in this action by the Law Offices of Charles Tolbert in New Jersey.

SOURCE Tony Duquette, Inc.