Am 13. Dezember wurde ein weiterer Paintballprozess entschieden. Die Gewinner: WGP und Viewloader. In dem Prozess ging es um die Autococker und die Viewloader Paintball Loader. National Paintball Supply, Psychoballistics, 32 Degrees und Empire Paintball dürfen nun keine Autococker Nachbauten mehr herstellen und die Empire Reloader dürfen den Viewloader Paintball Loadern nicht mehr ähnlich sehen.
Ein weiterer Prozess war WGP gegen OGI, auch hier ging es um einen Autococker Clone. Den dritten Prozess konnte JT gegen Paintball Junkies gewinnen, PJ dürfen nun keine Kleidung mehr herstellen, die der von JT ähnlich sieht.
Die Pressemitteilungen dazu:
Brass Eagle LLC and WGP LLC (Worr Game Products) jointly announce that they were awarded a judgment on December 13, 2004 by the U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, Arkansas against National Paintball Supply Inc., Psychoballistics, Inc., 32 Degrees and Empire Paintball.
The judgment includes a permanent injunction, ordering defendants to immediately cease distributing Lightning markers, Lightning Deluxe markers, the Empire Reloader and the 32 Degrees Round Loader.
The judgment covered two separate areas: tradedress and patent infringement involving Worr Game's popular Autococker model paintball marker, and affirmed Worr Game's exclusive right to the trademarks Autococker and Cocker. Second, the judgment affirmed Viewloaders' exclusive right to the outward appearance of its popular Viewloader brand paintball loaders.
Bud Orr, President of Worr Game and Lynn Scott, President of Brass Eagle, jointly stated „We are determined to protect our proprietary patent, tradedress and trademark rights, in Worr Game and ViewLoader Products. Worr Games has a registered trademark in the name Autococker and Cocker, as well as patent and tradedress rights. ViewLoader has similar intellectual property rights which we intend to defend. After several attempts to amicably settle this dispute with no acceptable response, we chose the only option left available. Litigation and the accompanying cost is not what we would have preferred, but under the circumstances we felt we had no other choice.“
In addition to a permanent injunction, the judgment provides for money damages, treble damages, punitive damages and attorney's fees and costs, with the exact amount to be determined at a later hearing.
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PRESS RELEASE FROM WGP LLC. DEC. 15, 2004
WGP LLC (Worr Game Products) announces that they were awarded a judgment on December 13, 2004 by the U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, Arkansas against One Group International, Inc. d/b/a Dragun Empire, and Mike Spurlock. The judgment includes a permanent injunction, ordering defendants to immediately cease distributing Dragunfly mechanical markers, 03m mechanical markers, Dragunfly LCD markers and Drallion markers. The judgment was for tradedress and patent infringement involving copying of Worr Games' popular Autococker model paintball marker, and the judgment also affirmed Worr Games' exclusive right to the trademarks Autococker and Cocker.
Bud Orr, President of Worr Game Products stated: “We are determined to protect our proprietary patent, tradedress and trademark rights, at Worr Game Products. Worr Game has a registered trademark in the name Autococker and Cocker, as well as patent and tradedress rights. Unfortunately, we were forced to take this action to defend our rights and will do so in the future, if necessary.”
In addition to a permanent injunction, the judgment provides for money damages, treble damages, punitive damages and attorney's fees and costs, with the exact amount to be determined at a later hearing.
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Bentonville, Arkansas
Effective December 13, 2004, a settlement was reached in the case of JT USA v. Paintball Junkies in which JT had alleged that Paintball Junkies was unlawfully copying the design of certain JT products. In the settlement, Paintball Junkies agreed to stop making and distributing various products, including: PJ's Pro No-Zip Pants, PJ Pro Tank Covers, PJ Pro Slider Shorts, PJ Elbow Guards and PJ Knee Pads. Paintball Junkies also agreed to not make any product or make any misrepresentations which would likely cause confusion in the marketplace between Paintball Junkies products and JT's products.
Lynn Scott, President of Brass Eagle, parent company of JT USA, said: “This result affirms our faith in our position that copying of our products constitutes an illegal activity, whether patented or not. JT USA plans to continue defending our intellectual property, trademark and tradedress rights.”
Paintball Junkies agreed to pay a royalty to JT USA on sales of PJ's remaining inventory of certain products. In addition, Paintball Junkies agreed to a Court Order to pay a specified sum of money, representing JT's damages, court costs, attorney's fees and interest.