Content area
Full Text
NEW YORK -- Joe Boxer Corp. is facing a court action that threatens to do more than get its shorts in an uproar.
Its former intimate apparel licensee, Van Mar Inc., last month obtained a $3.15 million judgment against Boxer, but the real issue may center on whether Boxer is able to pay.
Van Mar obtained an arbitration award in October 2000 against Boxer in the amount of $3,155,746, which includes damages for breach of the licensing agreement, attorneys' fees and costs, and interest. Since Boxer didn't pay the amount owed under the award, Van Mar sought satisfaction in a California state court in San Francisco by having the award confirmed and a judgment entered against Boxer on Dec. 18.
Not unlike the well-chronicled Calvin Klein-Warnaco dispute, which goes to trial here later this month, the ruling against Boxer dramatizes some of the less-publicized practical considerations that enter into licensors' relationships with their licensees. The Boxer matter addressed circumstances under which a licensor could be deemed unfairly competing with its own licensee.
But the fine points of licensing appear to be a secondary issue for Boxer founder Nick Graham and his associates, which include W. John Short who, as reported, was recently named president, chief executive and chief operating officer of the San Francisco-based company.
According to Jed Schlacter of Schlacter & Associates, Van Mar's counsel: "Joe Boxer has indicated to us that it...