On March 3, a U.S. District Court Judge for the Central District of California denied Tacori a temporary restraining order against Scott Kay pieces that Tacori contended infringed on its “reverse crescent” copyrights.

In the first battle between the two trade titans, the court noted that Tacori is likely “to establish it owns a valid copyright over its reverse crescent ring designs.” However, it added that Scott Kay “has submitted evidence that the purportedly similar elements of the parties’ rings are standard in this market, so many of these elements are likely not protectable.”

“Although there are some similarities between the rings, it appears unlikely that the ordinary, reasonable audience for these rings…would find them substantially similar,” the court ruled.

Despite this setback, Tacori president of sales and marketing Paul Tacorian vowed to press on.

“The court has found that Tacori has valid copyrights,” he said in a statement. “The court’s decision calls for additional information from consumers, retailers, and trade to prove that [Scott Kay’s] Heaven’s Gates collection is a copy of the Tacori Reverse Crescent Silhouette. We are in the process of gathering this information and are quite pleased from the responses we have so far received from our colleagues on this.”

Scott Kay’s statement, on the other hand, declared that the company was “pleased” with the judge’s preliminary finding: “Scott Kay’s Heaven’s Gates line of jewelry is based upon the same inspiration, originality and creativity which have made Scott Kay world-famous. The lawsuit brought by Tacori is baseless.”