A federal court last week awarded damages to BernzOmatic, a leading manufacturer of hand held torches, after finding Worthington Cylinders breached its supply agreement with BernzOmatic. The jury also found Worthington illegally used BernzOmatic's trade-dress in the marketing of its fuel cylinders, and published false and misleading advertisements about its cylinders.
The jury further found that Worthington intentionally engaged in unfair competition and deceptive trade practices in violation of Section 75-1.1 of the North Carolina Code, and intentionally committed false advertising in violation of the federal Lanham Act.
"BernzOmatic is extremely pleased with the jury's decision," said William A. Burke, III, Group President, Newell Rubbermaid. "It reinforces the importance of the BernzOmatic brand for hand torches and fuel cylinders and the integrity with which we do business."
BernzOmatic filed suit against Worthington in June 2008. The suit claimed Worthington breached its supply agreement with BernzOmatic and committed other wrongful acts in connection with the use of the BernzOmatic brand and trade-dress. BernzOmatic claimed that “Worthington deliberately infringed BernzOmatic's trade-dress and committed false advertising, all in an effort to falsely trade on BernzOmatic's 130-year history of quality manufacturing, reliability and innovation.”
