LOS ANGELES, CA - Restoration Hardware was sued last week in Northern California District Court by chair manufacturer Emeco Industries, Inc. for infringing on a trademarked furniture design.

Emeco Industries manufactures the aluminum Emeco Navy chair, some versions with carved walnut, cherry or maple seats.

The suit, which called Oct. 10 for a preliminary injunction against sales of the chair, charges that   Restoration Hardware introduced a similarly designed and named "Naval" chair  (download a 1 Mb file of the complaint) that is a copy of Emeco's trademarked design.It sells for about one-fourth the price of Emeco's $455 original. Restoration Hardware has removed the chair from its website since the litigation began Oct.

A list of classic chairs and their less expensive Restoration Hardware versions published by The New York Times October 11 highlighted a number of comparable designs, including several by famed Danish chair  designer Arne Jacobsen, such as the molded plywood beech Ant Chair and  Series 7 chairs.

The Series 7 is sold by the Museum of Modern Art  in New York for $498 and was introduced in 1955. A similar design cited by the New York Times is Restoration Hardware's molded plywood Magnus chair, available in weathered, stained or painted finishes for between $79 and $119.