BLG obtains preliminary injunction against trademark and domain name infringement

August 20, 2009 | Intellectual Property News
BLG attorneys obtained a preliminary injunction leading to an eventual stipulated judgment in favor of our client Suarez Corporation Industries against Earthwise Technologies and Earthwise Innovations. This action involved trademark infringement and breach of contract claims in which former distributors of products originating with our client continued to use infringing trademarks and Internet domain names. The stipulated judgment included a monetary payment in favor of our client, entered as a judgment in the Western District of Washington.

BLG wins summary judgment finding trade dress to be functional in slurry pump case

August 15, 2009 | Intellectual Property News
BLG attorney Larry Graham teamed up with Beresford Booth in defending their client Atlas Equipment Company against charges that their slurry pumps infringed a trade dress owned by Weir Slurry Group and Weir Minerals. This complicated case involved gathering evidence and testimony from witnesses in China, Australia, and across the United States in order to evaluate several additional complicated claims related to breach of contract and palming off. Ultimately, BLG’s client Atlas prevailed on a motion for summary judgment prior to trial by proving that the alleged trade dress was functional rather than serving to identify Weir as the source of the pump. As the federal court for the Western District of Washington observed, it would create a case of first impression to hold that a non-functional trade dress can be comprised of a collection of individually functional elements.

BLG wins summary judgment of patent invalidity in ski patent defense

June 5, 2009 | Intellectual Property News
BLG defended its client K2 by obtaining an order invalidating a patent that had been asserted against K2. The lawsuit was filed by Paul Nelson, who owned a patent related to a short, wide ski. Mr. Nelson had succeeded in licensing the patent to others before suing K2 in a patent infringement lawsuit filed in the Western District of Washington, case number C07-1660RSL. After evaluating K2’s motion for summary judgment, the court concluded that Mr. Nelson’s continuation-in-part patent was only entitled to the benefit of its actual filing date and not that of any of its parent applications. The court further found that Mr. Nelson had sold skis in accordance with the patent more than a year before that date, despite Mr. Nelson’s argument that his sales were merely experimental. With the patent invalidated, K2 prevailed on all claims against it and the case was dismissed.

BLG obtains favorable claim construction ruling and settlement in patent infringement defense

February 5, 2009 | Intellectual Property News
BLG attorneys defended their client Progressive International in a patent infringement case related to avocado slicers. The patent was originally licensed to Progressive, then terminated. Progressive redesigned its product to avoid the patent, with the assistance of BLG attorneys. The patent owner later sued Progressive while claiming that the redesigned product infringed the patent. BLG obtained a key ruling during a Markman hearing to interpret the meaning of a patent, leading to a dismissal of the claims against Progressive.

BLG wins Federal Circuit appeal in defense of patent infringement

January 8, 2009 | Intellectual Property News
BLG attorneys prevailed in the defense of a patent infringement action asserted against BLG client Arctic Cat. In this action, BLG obtained a dismissal of the action on procedural grounds related to failure to participate in pretrial events such as a pretrial conference, and for failure of a corporate party to be represented by counsel. The plaintiff appealed the dismissal of the action, which was on the merits and with prejudice. After briefing and arguing the case at the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the dismissal of the case was affirmed and all claims against Arctic Cat dismissed.

BLG settles patent infringement dispute involving ozone-based cleaning equipment patent

August 29, 2008 | Intellectual Property News
BLG achieved a favorable settlement in its representation of Ozone International in a patent infringement matter that enforced Ozone’s patents related to ozone-based cleaning equipment against Amfil Technologies. Ozone owns several patents in the field of ozone cleaning products, including patents asserted in this action for a combined high pressure water and low pressure ozone sprayer.

BLG settles patent infringement dispute involving football patent

June 10, 2008 | Intellectual Property News
BLG attorneys represented Jarden, Coca-Cola, and Disney in the defense of claims of patent infringement related to the sale of baseballs and footballs having lenticular panels. The products at issue were generally decorative specialty products having images of characters or products incorporated into the covering. BLG attorneys searched for and found prior art that would invalidate the patent, leading to a confidential settlement on favorable terms.