Fast Retailing Co., a leading casual-clothing retailer known for its Uniqlo brand, and Daiei Inc. have reached an out-of-court settlement over a dispute involving the layout of Daiei's PAS casual clothing stores, company officials said Saturday.
Fast Retailing earlier this week dropped its request for a provisional injunction to ban Daiei from using shop designs that Fast Retailing says are similar to those of Uniqlo outlets.
Fast Retailing filed the request last August with the Matsudo branch of the Chiba District Court, claiming that the layout of Daiei's PAS casual clothing stores was copied from the interior and exterior designs of its popular Uniqlo store chain.
Daiei, a struggling supermarket chain operator in the process of a sweeping restructuring program, has agreed to settle the case, they said.
Fast Retailing, suffering from dwindling sales, dropped the claim because it wanted to settle the dispute quickly and consumers are now able to distinguish the brands, the officials said.
Business ties between the two firms returned to normal and Daiei will resume talks with Fast Retailing on the launch of new outlets within Daiei stores, a Daiei official said.
While Daiei is promoting the PAS line under direct management, it also has three Uniqlo shops in its supermarkets.
Daiei has 12 PAS shops in supermarkets across Japan, but the injunction was sought for a single shop in a Daiei supermarket in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture.