3/21/2017

CONFLICT OF INTEREST/ETHICS/LEGAL/TRUMP FAMILY/IVANKA: “Being so closely associated with the President of the United States might be serving Ivanka Trump’s brand for the better, but a California retailer thinks such an advantage crosses into the category of illegal competition.
Modern Appealing Clothing, a family-owned boutique selling lines like Dries Van Noten and Comme des Garçons out of two San Francisco locations, told a local court on Thursday that the holding company for Ivanka Trump’s intellectual property and its affiliates are getting an ‘unfair advantage’ through the heightened public profile the First Daughter’s brand is enjoying.
As a retailer of women’s clothing and accessories, the boutique, also known as ‘MAC,’ said it ‘directly competes’ with the Ivanka Trump brand and given that brand’s public affiliation with and support from President Trump, MAC and all other retailers in California have found themselves at a disadvantage.
MAC also pointed out that Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner work for the administration, and such an unfair advantage in commerce is ‘specifically prohibited’ by the Constitution and California law.
‘The effects of that unfair advantage are magnified greatly by marketing activities of defendant Ivanka Trump’s officers and employees and the similar activities of Donald J. Trump, his family, his agents and employees and the White House staff advisors, including but not limited to Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway and White House Press Secretary and Communications Director Sean Spicer,’ MAC said in its complaint.”

-Kali Hays, “San Francisco boutique files class action lawsuit against Ivanka Trump brand, alleges unfair advantage,” The Los Angeles Times online, March 21, 2017