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KAH sculptor testifies against founder in Crystal Head case

The sculptor who created KAH Tequila’s skull-shaped bottle has testified that he was asked to base the design on Globefill Inc’s Crystal Head Vodka in an ongoing court case.

The tattoo artist and sculptor who created KAH Tequila’s skull-shaped bottle has testified against the brand’s founder

The trade dress infringement case alleges the brand, now owned by SPI Group, is a “cheap knockoff” of Crystal Head Vodka, and marks the second time Globefill has brought such a suit against the brand.

After defendant Elements Spirits Inc – which founded KAH Tequila in 2009 – set out its evidence at the jury trial Los Angeles, Globefill called Walter Szymoniak to the stand as a final rebuttal witness, according to Law360.

Szymoniak testified that he was hired to help Elements founder Kim Brandi improve on her first clay prototype of the bottle. When Brandi was dissatisfied with what he created, he said, she gave him one of Crystal Head’s glass skull-shaped bottles for him to make a cast of.

According to reports, he then used clay and tools to alter the copy, producing the version that Brandi accepted.

Szymoniak added that until last week, he had not heard from Brandi since 2010. She contacted him “to give him a check for $10,000 to make up for his not receiving royalties he had been promised for his work”.

When he arrived, Szymoniak alledges, Brandi asked him for help to find differences between the bottles, and admitted she had lied to the jury about having never heard of the Crystal Head brand.

“She just said, ‘I lied under oath and said I had never seen the crystal skull bottle, but I handed it you, the frickin, the effing bottle,’” Szymoniak said, according to reports.

Szymoniak added that he “wasn’t trying to knock off anyone else’s work” and he had made significant changes to the Crystal Head copy.

“I don’t think it’s any question she had our bottle and used our bottle,” Globefill attorney David Berg said in his closing argument.

Keith Hummel, representing Elements, argued that the bottles are “distinctly different”. “These products have shared the market for seven years, and not one person has showed up to testify about actual confusion, because there is no likelihood of confusion,” he said.

Deliberations will continue this morning.

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