U.S. District Judge, Katherine Forrest, has ordered Ivanka Trump, the current “Assistant to the President of the United States” — whatever that is, to answer questions in the trademark infringement lawsuit brought against her company by Italian designer label, Aquazurra Italia SRL.
According to the Business of Fashion, Trump previously claimed that as a “high-ranking government official,” she’s far too “busy” to be deposed in the suit, which alleges that Trump, her company, and Marc Fisher Holdings knocked off Aquazurra’s $785 “Wild Thing” model when designing the $135 “Hettie” shoe.
Objectively, the two bear a striking resemblance, right down to the weird pompom toe strap and the leather tassel at the ankle.
For her part, Trump and her team of attorneys maintain that she had absolutely nothing to do with the design process, saying that she merely signed off on an approved product, while Aquazurra’s lawyers are citing a 2012 interview Trump did with Footwear News, in which she said, “There’s not a shoe I’m not intimately involved in designing.”
So now, Trump will officially have to answer questions about whether she knowingly knocked off a designer shoe or if she unknowingly just slapped her name on a Chinese-made bootleg. Being a Trump sure does require a lot of attorneys.
You can read more at the Business of Fashion.
