In an article published by World IP Review (subscription required), litigation partners Saina Shamilov and Melanie Mayer discussed their storytelling strategy that led to a $30.5 million victory in a patent infringement trial for client Lashify and its innovative DIY eyelash extension technology.
"The power of a story cannot be underestimated in any context and certainly not in a patent case,” Shamilov and Mayer told WIPR.
The beauty industry is saturated with copycat products, which has made IP enforcement a rare occurrence. Innovators are often edged out of the very markets they helped create by competitors that attempt to reproduce successful products at lower costs.
“Looking to the beauty industry itself for an expert, our team used an Academy Award-winning makeup artist to explain what existed before and how [Lashify CEO Sahara Lotti’s] invention disrupted the makeup world,” they told WIPR. “The verdict is a confirmation of Lashify’s innovative technology and the novelty of Lashify’s patents and Ms. Lotti’s inventions.”