If your sweetheart bought you a Tiffany engagement ring at Costco — he really didn’t, the famed jeweler says in a new lawsuit.
While lovebirds everywhere were celebrating Valentine’s Day, Tiffany & Co. yesterday sued the big-box discount chain for allegedly peddling knockoffs of its world-famous diamond engagement rings.
The multimillion-dollar suit by the famed “blue box” jewelry company claims Costco conned its customers into buying “hundreds if not thousands” of ersatz “Tiffany” diamond rings before the alleged trademark infringement was discovered last year.
Court papers filed in Manhattan federal court say an unidentified consumer blew the whistle after shopping at a Costco in Huntington Beach, Calif., and “complained to Tiffany that she was disappointed to observe that Costco was offering for sale what were promoted on in-store signs as Tiffany diamond engagement rings.”
A subsequent investigation revealed that the store’s jewelry case held two purported Tiffany platinum rings with round diamonds retailing for $3,199.99 and $6,399.99 each, according to the filing.
“The Costco salesperson also referred to each of the rings as a ‘Tiffany ring,’ and said the store generally carries one of each item,” the suit says. “Neither of the rings . . . was, in fact, a Tiffany ring, nor was it manufactured by, approved by, licensed by or otherwise in any way properly associated with Tiffany.”
Tiffany says it “promptly confronted Costco with its discovery,” and the warehouse club promised to remove any references to the high-end jeweler on its product signs.
But Tiffany says it soon found out Costco had apparently been selling copycat rings “for many years” without using Tiffany’s brand name on its Web site, “thereby avoiding detection of its unlawful activities by Tiffany’s normal trademark-protection procedures.”
“This is not the kind of behavior people expect from a company like Costco, and this case will shed a much-needed light on this outrageous behavior,” Tiffany lawyer Jeffrey Mitchell said. Costco has profited from the sale of engagement rings by misrepresenting what they were.”
Tiffany’s suit seeks damages of $2 million “per infringement,” along with triple the amount of Costco’s profits from selling the rings. Costco declined to comment.
bruce.golding@nypost.com