What if there was an inflatable Christmas tree?
It would be a huge hit, with an estimated 3 million visitors visiting the site every year.
But now, the project is in jeopardy due to a lawsuit.
The Christmas Tree Project filed a lawsuit Thursday, claiming the company’s Christmas decorations, which it’s billed as the world’s largest, were defamatory, causing irreparable harm to its business and reputation.
“The defendants’ false statements about Plaintiffs Christmas Tree, and the plaintiff’s subsequent misrepresentations about Plaintiff’s business, negatively impacted Plaintiffs reputation, negatively affected the Plaintiffs finances, negatively negatively affected Plaintiffs business and, in addition, negatively adversely impacted Plaintiff business, prospects, business prospects, and prospects of future business and prospects,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit claims that the defendants “failed to take steps to prevent or mitigate the adverse effects of their conduct,” and “included and/or relied on defamations against Plaintiffs in its marketing materials and on the Plaintiff website.”
It also alleges that “the defendants’ conduct caused harm to Plaintiffs’ business and caused substantial financial loss to Plaintiff.”
According to the lawsuit, the defendants’ claim that the company was unable to produce a product that met its standards of quality and customer satisfaction, that it had a limited number of suppliers, that its business was not sustainable and that it could not generate enough revenue to cover its expenses were “false.”
The lawsuit seeks to invalidate the Christmas Tree’s trademarks and business as a whole.
It also seeks an injunction against the defendants, who “shall be enjoined from enforcing the defendants claims of irreparable damage and damages, including but not limited to damages for actual loss, loss of profits, economic distress, lost profits, loss to reputation, business interruption, disruption of commerce, loss in trade, loss at the source, and any other right to enforce and collect the injunctive relief sought,” the lawsuit states.
A spokesperson for the company did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The suit comes a few weeks after the company filed a similar lawsuit against its parent company, which is based in the Netherlands.
The Dutch company was hit with a lawsuit by another company in July over similar allegations, but the lawsuit against the Christmas Trees was filed less than a week after the first.
The plaintiffs in that case also said the company made “false statements” about Christmas decorations.
The lawsuits are still pending.
The company has faced legal challenges before.
In 2014, it filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against The New York Times, accusing the paper of copying its headlines.
It’s been trying to settle the case for months, but that process has come to a halt.
A representative for the New York-based Times declined to comment.
