• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer

Indiana Intellectual Property Blog

~ Trademark and Copyright Law Updates in Indiana

Indiana Intellectual Property Blog

Tag Archives: Misappropriation of Trade Secrets

Equestrian Arena Equipment Manufacturer Sues Competitor for Breach of Contract, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets

13 Tuesday Apr 2021

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Business Law, Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Patent, Southern District of Indiana, Trade Secret, Trademark

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Breach of Contract, Common Law Trademark Misappropriation, Common Law Unfair Competion, Doris L. Pryor, False Advertising, False Designation, Lanham Act Violations, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets, Sarah Evans Barker

Here’s an interesting lawsuit, which seems like it wants to be a patent lawsuit but instead is masquerading as a breach of contract or trade secret lawsuit.

In September 2016, the parties allegedly into a “Product Lines Purchase Agreement,” by which the Plaintiff purchased “all specifications, shop drawings, blueprints, records and intellectual property rights” relating to the Kiser DragMaster and Kiser Edge, equipment used for grooming and maintaining equestrian arenas.

Despite selling the intellectual property for those products to Plaintiff as a part of the deal, the Defendants are now accused of selling knockoff products, although under different product names. It seems that what Plaintiff really wants to do is prevent the sale of competing products, but they don’t have any patents to truly protect their product designs. As such, the Plaintiff’s lawyers had to get creative and try to bring breach of contract, trademark, and trade secret claims.

Apparently, representatives of the Defendants have referred to the Defendants’ products as a “redesign” of Plaintiff’s DragMaster. Even if true, the Defendants could claim a nominative fair use defense, as such references seem to actually be referring to old DragMaster products. The law around comparative advertising is pretty well-settled in favor of consumer knowledge, absent evidence of false endorsement. Competitors comparing a new product to an older competing product via name is typically allowed.

By way of example, the Complaint (below) contains the following diagram comparing the Defendants’ “Kiser 1000” to the Plaintiff’s “ABI DragMaster”:

Similarly, the “Kiser 200” is compared to the “ABI Edge”:

These are the types of comparison drawings you’d typically see in a patent lawsuit. All of the features being compared are utilitarian product features. The product names (i.e. trademarks) aren’t compared because they aren’t similar at all…Kiser 1000 vs. ABI DragMaster.

Proving a breach of contract or misappropriation of trade secrets will necessarily depend on proving that the Defendants’ products are actually infringing on the intellectual property owned by Plaintiff. Without any prior patent protection, that could be difficult to do in this context.

Stay tuned to see how the Defendants respond, perhaps with a Motion to Dismiss for some of the claims.

ABI Attachments, Inc. v. Kiser Arena Specialists, Inc. et al.

Court Case Number: 1:21-cv-00890-SEB-DLP
File Date: Monday, April 12, 2021
Plaintiff: ABI Attachments, Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: James M. Lewis, Michael J. Hays of Tuesley Hall Konopa LLP
Defendant: Kiser Arena Specialists, Inc., Robert D. Kiser, James Kiser
Cause: Breach of Contract, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets, Lanham Act Violations, False Designation, False Advertising, Common Law Unfair Competition, Common Law Trademark Misappropriation, Unjust Enrichment
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Sarah Evans Barker
Referred To: Doris L. Pryor

Complaint:

View this document on Scribd

Carrington College accused of providing Personal Training students with copies of exams in advance

11 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Copyright, Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Northern District of Indiana

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Breach of Contract, Copyright Infringement, Fraud, John E. Martin, Joseph S. Van Bokkelen, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets

Plaintiff National Federal of Professional Trainers, Inc., headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana, brings this action to prevent, and obtain damages for, Defendant Carrington College’s unauthorized copying and distribution of NFPT’s proprietary Certified Personal Trainer (“CPT”) credentialing examinations. Carrington College is a for-profit educational institution headquartered in Sacramento, California.

The Complaint alleges that “Carrington had given students copies of confidential and proprietary NFPT examinations, and then quizzed students on the copied examination questions until students memorized the answers to each specific question.”

Stay tuned for updates.

National Federation of Professional Trainers, Inc. v. Carrington College, Inc.

Court Case Number: 4:18-cv-00047-JVB-JEM
File Date: Monday, July 2, 2018
Plaintiff: National Federal of Professional Trainers, Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Anthony E. Dowell, Richard T. McCaulley, Kenley Eaglestone of McCaulley Dowell
Defendant: Carrington College, Inc.
Cause: Copyright Infringement, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets, Breach of Contract, Fraud
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Joseph S. Van Bokkelen
Referred To: John E. Martin

Complaint:

View this document on Scribd

Indiana Trade Secret Litigation Update – Precision Drone v. Channel Masters

24 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Southern District of Indiana, Trade Secret

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Breach of Contract, Larry J. McKinney, Litigation Update, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets, Tim A. Baker

Precision Drone, LLC designs and makes drones and software for use by farmers to monitor crops. According to the Complaint (see below), in September 2014, Precision made a deal with Channel Masters, LLC for Channel to purchase and resell the PaceSetter™ Drone in exchange for a commission on each drone and related parts sold. Precision gave Channel a demonstration drone and training manual and trained Channel’s agents on the use of the PaceSetter drone. As part of the Service Agreement, Channel agreed to not disclose confidential information and signed a non-compete. According to Precision’s complaint, Channel began working for AgriImage, a direct competitor in the agricultural drone market, and began promoting AgriImage drones instead of Precision drones.

At the Nebraska Power Farming Show in December 2014, Precision saw Channel’s agent, Tom Owen, using Precision images, training manual, and sales pitch to resell AgriImage drones. A picture of Mr. Owen using an image and “working the AgriImage booth” is Exhibit C in the court documents embedded below. Then, the very next day after the Nebraska farm show, Channel sent Precision a letter attempting to terminate the Service Agreement without cause. Precision has responded by filing a lawsuit for Breach of Contract and Misappropriation of Trade Secrets.

Precision Drone LLC v. Channel Masters LLC

Court Case Number: 1:15-cv-00476-LJM-TAB
File Date: Monday, March 23, 2015
Plaintiff: Precision Drone LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: John Stephen Terry, Russell B. Cate, and William Edwin Wendling, Jr., of Campbell Kyle Proffitt, LLP
Defendant: Channel Masters LLC
Cause: Breach of Contract, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Judge Larry J. McKinney
Referred To: Magistrate Judge Tim A. Baker

View this document on Scribd

Indiana Copyright Litigation Update – Infor (Barneveld) BV v. Micromatic LLC

22 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Intellectual Property

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Breach of the License Agreement, Christopher A. Nuechterlein, Contributory Infringement, Copyright Infringement, Litigation Update, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets, Robert L. Miller

Infor (Barneveld) BV v. Micromatic LLC

Court Case Number: 3:12-cv-00541-RLM-CAN
File Date: Friday, September 21, 2012
Plaintiff: Infor (Barneveld) BV
Plaintiff Counsel: John D. LaDue, John A. Drake of LaDue Curran & Kuehn LLC
Defendant: Micromatic LLC
Cause: Copyright Infringement, Contributory Copyright Infringement, Breach of the License Agreement, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr.
Referred To: Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein

View this document on Scribd

Indiana Scientist Pleads Guilty to Stealing Trade Secrets for China

19 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Southern District of Indiana, Trade Secret

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Cargill Inc., Dow Chemical Co., Intellectual Property, Kexue Huang, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets, Southern District of Indiana, U.S. Economic Espionage Act of 1996

Indiana companies can take an extra dose of comfort today knowing the Indiana courts and prosecutors are protecting their valuable intellectual property. A Chinese-born scientist pleaded guilty on Tuesday to stealing valuable trade secrets about pesticides and food products from two major U.S. companies and sending the information to China and Germany.

Kexue Huang, 46, worked at a Dow Chemical Co subsidiary from 2003 to 2008 in Indiana where he led a team of scientists developing organic insecticides and then later for another agribusiness giant, privately held Cargill Inc.

Huang pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana to one count of stealing trade secrets from Cargill and one count of engaging in economic espionage at Dow, only the eighth case charged involving the U.S. Economic Espionage Act of 1996.

Click here for the full Reuters story or the original indictment over a year ago.

For more information on protecting your valuable trade secrets: Creating a Trade Secret Policy

← Older posts

Categories

  • Artists (21)
  • Authors (19)
  • Bloggers (36)
  • Branding (27)
  • Business Law (8)
  • Copyright (289)
  • Dear KLF Legal (4)
  • Defamation (5)
  • Entertainment Law (14)
  • Estate Law (2)
  • Family Law (2)
  • Fashion (5)
  • Federal Initiatives (33)
  • Indiana (537)
  • Indianapolis (45)
  • Intellectual Property (593)
  • Just for Fun (25)
  • KLF Legal (19)
  • Legislation (34)
  • Litigation (529)
  • Musicians (12)
  • Nonprofit (5)
  • Northern District of Indiana (178)
  • Patent (43)
  • Privacy (15)
  • Right of Publicity (8)
  • Social Media (55)
  • Southern District of Indiana (320)
  • Stories from the Week that Was (42)
  • Supreme Court (13)
  • Tech Developments (119)
  • Trade Dress (24)
  • Trade Secret (15)
  • Trademark (317)
  • What I'm Reading (8)

Bloggers Copyright Federal Initiatives Indiana Indianapolis Intellectual Property Legislation Litigation Northern District of Indiana Patent Social Media Southern District of Indiana Stories from the Week that Was Tech Developments Trademark

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Indiana Intellectual Property Blog
    • Join 75 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Indiana Intellectual Property Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...