Tiffany v. Costco!? Dispute in New York court.
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| NEW YORK
A federal judge in New York has asked discount wholesaler聽Costco聽and luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. to try to settle a multimillion-dollar trademark dispute.
Lawyers for the companies faced off in a Manhattan courtroom Friday over聽Costco聽Wholesale Corp.'s sales of thousands of Tiffany diamond rings that weren't made by the jeweler.
Costco聽says Tiffany has become a generic term for a mount common on engagement rings in which the stone is set in a raised claw.
The New York Post reports that聽Costco聽lawyer James Dabney told the judge that saying "Tiffany ring" is like saying "Phillips screwdriver," ''Murphy bed" or "Ferris wheel."
Tiffany lawyer Jeffrey Mitchell says that if you ask 100 people on the street what Tiffany means, "they're not going to say the setting."