1-800 Contacts Lawsuit Against Warby Parker: Judge Rejects Claims of Trademark Infringement and Unfair Competition

A federal judge has rejected claims by 1-800 Contacts that Warby Parker committed trademark infringement.

1-800 Contacts alleged in a lawsuit that Warby Parker purchased search engine keywords for “1-800 Contact.” An attorney for 1-800 Contacts told Reuters in August that Warby Parker sought to “confuse” consumers rather than building its own brand presence for online contact lens sales.

But U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel said in a ruling this week that 1-800 Contacts “failed to plausibly plead a likelihood of consumer confusion” in the case. The case was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

He wrote that “the parties’ marks are too dissimilar for reasonably sophisticated internet consumers to be confused as to whether they have navigated to, and are purchasing contacts from 1-800 Contacts instead of Warby Parker.”

“Most significantly, Warby Parker’s name is clearly displayed in both (1) the website addresses contained in search results for the 1-800 Contacts Marks and (2) the Warby Parker website,” he stated.

A 1-800 Contacts representative told Reuters the company was looking at its next steps, which could include an appeal.