Curtis Secures a Preliminary Injunction on claims of Patent Infringement for Hutzler Manufacturing

On July 25, 2012, Curtis secured a significant victory on the intellectual property front. U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe (SDNY) granted Curtis client Hutzler Manufacturing, Inc.'s motion for a preliminary injunction against competitor and alleged patent infringer Bradshaw International, Inc. Hutzler argued that Bradshaw's vegetable storage containers infringed Hutzler's design patents for vegetable storage containers. In addition, Hutzler argued that Bradshaw engaged in unfair competition because it copied Hutzler's entire line of storage containers. Judge Gardephe agreed, finding that Hutzler established a likelihood of success on the merits of: (1) its patent infringement claim because an ordinary observer could confuse the two products; and (2) its unfair competition claim because there was a likelihood of confusion between the two products and because Bradshaw acted in bad faith in copying Hutzler's entire line of products. The opinion runs to 35 pages and clarifies important elements of the 'ordinary observer test' applied in the law of design patent infringement.

The Curtis team representing Hutzler consists of partners Turner P. Smith and Michael R. Graif, and associate Nicole Mazanitis.