Tiffany Sues Costco Over Mislabled Rings

Tiffany Co. filed lawsuit against Costco today over mislabeled rings.

The lawsuit claims that Costco has been selling engagement rings with the Tiffany label at their stores. The jewelry company says that it never gave the company permission to use its name and that the rings are not actual Tiffany rings.

Jeffrey Mitchell, a lawyer representing Tiffany, told the Associated Press:

“We now know that there are at least hundreds if not thousands of Costco members who think they bought a Tiffany engagement ring at Costco, which they didn’t. Costco knew what it was doing when it used the Tiffany trademark to sell rings that had nothing to do with Tiffany. 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.”

Reuters reports that the jewelry company said that it was alerted about the fraudulent rings by a Costco customer in November 2012. The customer said that she was disappointed to see the high end jewelry being sold at discounted prices at Costco. Tiffany investigated the complaint and found a display cast at the Huntington Beach Costco that was labeled with the Tiffany brand name. The rings inside the case, however, were not rings from the famed jewelry store.

The company is also accusing Costco of advertising “Tiffany Rings” on their website.

Costco has not commented on the lawsuit yet.