Dastar bars federal anticopying claims, but not state ones?

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. v. Wayfair Inc., --- F.Supp.3d ----, 2023 WL 371035, No. 1:21-12063-PBS (D. Mass. Jan. 24, 2023)

WS sued Wayfair, alleging patent infringement, Lanham Act false advertising, Massachusetts and California statutory unfair competition and Massachusetts false advertising based on alleged copying of West Elm products. Wayfair moved to dismiss the false advertising and unfair competition claims. The Lanham Act and California claims failed, but the Massachusetts claim survived.

WS has nine relevant design patents, which it alleged Wayfair infringed. Example: 

False advertising: In a video ad for its Foundstone collection, Wayfair included images of a designer sketching products, which WS alleged would lead consumers to believe that Wayfair designed the products copied from WS’s patented designs. Multiple third parties have noted the similar nature of the products, e.g. referring to Wayfair’s Foundstone products as “look-alikes,” “identical” or “mirroring” West Elm, a “West-Elm-Inspired Collection,” and that it “could easily be confused for West Elm. Again, it’s not a knock-off, but it’s fair to call it a dead ringer.” Wayfair states that products from Foundstone are available “only at Wayfair” or are “a Wayfair exclusive collection,” or “looks you’ll only find at Wayfair.”

Lanham Act: Wayfair argued that, read in context, these claims related to the collections, not to every individual product: “Foundstone” followed by the text “Only at Wayfair”; Wayfair’s “exclusive brands team has been hard at work on Foundstone a Wayfair-exclusive collection of attainable and updated mid-century furniture and décor”; and Wayfair’s “hand-curated collections are filled with the best in popular pieces, timeless designs, and looks you’ll find only at Wayfair—all at prices that fit your budget.”

The court didn’t resolve that question because it found Wayfair’s Dastar argument persuasive: the physical origin of these goods was Wayfair. And the court agreed with other courts that have held that authorship does not constitute part of the “nature, characteristics, or qualities of a good for sale” and thus isn’t the proper subject of a false advertising claim.

“However, a Chapter 93A claim can survive even if Dastar precludes a Lanham Act claim.” The court didn’t explain why; the logic of Dastar strongly suggests that copyright conflict preemption would apply if a federal claim is Dastar-barred.

California claims: No standing for a competitor-plaintiff who can’t allege its own reliance on the false or misleading statements. [Also not explaining why the court rejects the minority view that this doesn’t make sense.]