Shopping carts sit in the parking lot of a Costco store in Waltham, Massachusetts, U.S., December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

(Reuters) – A Manhattan federal judge’s wife owned shares of Costco Wholesale Corp while her husband presided over a trademark dispute between Costco and Tiffany & Co, and he should have dropped out of the case, a a court official said in a letter posted to the case docket on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman said his rulings were not affected by the stock ownership of his wife, the clerk of the court for the Southern District of New York. Recount corporate lawyers.

But “this shareholding would have required a recusal under the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges, and therefore, Judge Liman ordered that I notify the parties of the potential conflict,” the letter said.

The US Senate passed a bipartisan bill last week that would strengthen public financial reporting requirements for federal judges, following a Wall Street Journal report that found 131 federal judges failed to recuse themselves from cases involving companies in which they or their family owned shares.

Liman was not mentioned in the report.

Friday’s letter gave the lawyers a chance to respond and said any response would be considered by another judge.

The companies settled the dispute on undisclosed terms last year. They and their attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tiffany for follow-up Costco in 2013, arguing that Costco’s use of the word “Tiffany” in advertising its rings violated Tiffany’s trademark rights and amounted to infringement. The case was reassigned to Liman in 2020 after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a multi-million dollar win for Tiffany.

District Judge Laura Taylor Swain had ruled for Tiffany in 2015, dismissing Costco’s argument that “Tiffany” had become a generic term for a type of ring setting. Swain and a jury later awarded Tiffany more than $21 million in damages.

The 2nd Circuit order a new trial in 2020 and said reasonable jurors might conclude that Costco’s use of the Tiffany name was unlikely to confuse customers.

The case is Tiffany & Co v. Costco Wholesale Corp, US District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:13-cv-01041.

For Tiffany: Brendan O’Rourke of Proskauer Rose

For Costco: David Bernstein of Debevoise & Plimpton

Read more:

US Senate moves to strengthen judicial requirements for financial disclosure

Tiffany and Costco settle 8-year lawsuit over fake ‘Tiffany’ rings

US Court of Appeals Overturns Tiffany’s Judgment Against Costco Over Fake “Tiffany” Rings

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