The Roanoke Times

File 2006 Francis Brown is still operating his Cartier limousine service after settling with Cartier.

The details are secret, but Michael Carter's jewelry store in Rocky Mount has not changed its name. And Francis Brown's one-man limo company in Roanoke is still called Cartier Limousine and Airport Car Service.

Both Carter and Brown were sued by international jewelry giant Cartier, which claimed its brand was being diluted.

On Tuesday, the last of the cases ended after mediation. Carter and Brown are still in business under the names they've used since 1986. The settlements are confidential.

Filing against Brown in 2006, the jeweler Cartier claimed the similar name confused customers. Filing against Carter a year later, Cartier said the font of his logo was too close to its own.

Nonsense, responded Roanoke attorney William Poff, who represented both defendants. "Some super sleuth in intellectual property came upon the scene and sold Cartier on the idea that, for a lofty fee, they would shut down everyone who might even conceivably come close to infringing on Cartier's mark," he wrote in a court filing.

The lawsuit against Brown was resolved last year, and the suit against Carter's was ordered dismissed this week.