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Stamford-based furniture maker Lovesac has settled a patent lawsuit against a unit of La-Z-Boy. Lovesac’s showrooms include this one at 68 Post Road E., in downtown Westport, Conn.

Shawn Nelson is founder and chief executive officer of Lovesac.

STAMFORD — Lovesac, a fast-growing furniture company based in Stamford, has settled a lawsuit filed late last year against a unit of La-Z-Boy that alleged the latter had infringed on its line of modular couches.

Stamford-based Lovesac alleged in its lawsuit that starting in 2021, Joybird had introduced “an infringing knock-off” of Lovesac’s modular couches, which are known as Sactionals, and that Joybird’s Notch Modular furniture “copies many of the innovative and patented elements of Sactionals and advertises the same modular, reconfigurable function.” In a response to the complaint, Joybird denied that Lovesac “invented an entirely new category of modular furniture,” but it admitted that Lovesac filed a patent application in 2005.

In a statement last week, Lovesac said that, “the parties have reached a mutually agreeable business resolution and the lawsuit has been dismissed with prejudice.” The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Lovesac’s sales have spiked since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the company’s growth reflecting the surging demand for furniture as a result of customers spending more time at home.

The expanding customer base has translated into 16 consecutive quarters of at least 25 percent net sales growth. For the quarter ending May 1, its sales jumped 56 percent year over year, to about $129 million. In the same period, it recorded a $1.9 million profit.

“Lovesac’s strong performance in the first quarter exceeded expectations at the top and bottom lines and, perhaps more importantly, defied the macro headwinds that are negatively impacting consumers and the broader economy,” Lovesac founder and Chief Executive Officer Shawn Nelson said in a statement. “Key competitive advantages underpin this outperformance: a unique product that drives intense loyalty and word-of-mouth transmission, our direct-to-consumer business model, and the tangible benefits of scale against a simple, non-seasonal, limited (stock-keeping unit) inventory base.”

At the end of the past quarter, Lovesac operated 162 stores, compared with 116 a year earlier. Within Connecticut, it has establishments in Greenwich, Danbury, West Hartford and Westport.

Lovesac, which became a publicly traded company in 2018, has sought to build customer awareness with television and digital media marketing campaigns. Its Instagram account, for instance, has about 526,000 followers. The company’s target audience is older members of the millennial generation who are in their 30s.

pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott

Paul Schott is a business reporter at Hearst Connecticut Media, writing about the issues affecting small- and medium-sized businesses and large corporations based in southwestern Connecticut, with a focus on Stamford and Greenwich. He previously covered education for Greenwich Time and general assignments for the Westport News. Paul welcomes readers' ideas and suggestions and strives to cultivate a robust dialogue with Hearst Connecticut Media's audience.