Fenwick continues to deliver first-of-their-kind patent litigation wins for fashion brand Lashify—most recently a Federal Circuit ruling featured in Managing IP that will empower U.S. brands going after so-called “dupes” who infringe their patents.
Lashify, a U.S. business that manufactures its unique eyelash-extension system outside the U.S., had challenged an ITC ruling that Lashify, which had filed a complaint alleging a violation of Section 337 based on patent infringement, did not satisfy a “domestic industry” requirement based on its labor and capital expenditures. But the ITC didn’t count expenses like sales, marketing, and distribution operations in the U.S.
Newly empowered to interpret agency statutes under a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the Federal Circuit agreed with Lashify that the ITC misapplied the domestic industry criteria—overturning the ITC’s longstanding practice of excluding sales, marketing, warehousing, quality control, and distribution operations from its domestic industry analysis.
“It was a challenging task overall” to take on decades of ITC precedent, Shamilov told Managing IP. “Being able to help [Lashify] and get this result was incredibly rewarding for me.”
Intellectual property enforcement has long been a challenge in the beauty industry, but founders and entrepreneurs have been taking note of Lashify, and more companies are interested in bringing ITC cases on the heels of Lashify’s win.
“There are not that many women-led businesses where women are inventors and entrepreneurs and start from the ground up and grow as big as Lashify,” Shamilov said. “We need more of that.”
In August, Fenwick secured a $30.5 Million jury verdict for Lashify in separate but related patent-infringement litigation.