THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Entrepreneur and mom Allison Brockman built a business from her dining room table. She designed dresses using authentic jerseys and added skirts for a one-of-a-kind, unique look. She applied for a patent. Once it went pending,"We wore them to the Astros game the next day and we were stopped left and right, people asking us 'where'd you get that dress, where'd you get that dress?'," said Brockman.
Treistman is a Senior Partner at Arnold and Porter practicing intellectual property law. She says Brockman does have a legal recourse. The dress Brockman saw for sale was manufactured by Outer Stuff, the very company she met with last year. KHOU 11 News has reached out to Outer Stuff half a dozen times by phone and email to get a statement. As of the time of this publication, we are still awaiting a response.
"It's not okay to take someone's idea like that and replicate it and then leave them out of the equation," said Brockman. According to Brockman, her attorney is evaluating the proper next legal steps to take to protect her rights.