Trademark Infringement Alleged by Horticultural Innivator

According to a complaint recently filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, Mitchell Ellis Products, Inc. (“Plaintiff”) is a “longstanding leader in the horticultural industry and has provided machinery specially developed for the nursery and greenhouse market since 1977.” Plaintiff further alleges that it has developed “innovative and revolutionary potting apparatuses” and that the defendants, Bouldin & Lawson, LLC and Bouldin Corporation, infringed upon a patent owned by Plaintiff when Defendants “chose to copy Plaintiff’s technology and innovative style” regarding Plaintiff’s potting machine “rather than innovate and develop [their] own technology.” Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that the Defendants “knowingly induced infringement and possessed specific intent to encourage another’s infringement which led to direct infringement by a third party by soliciting buyers, distributors and/or retailers to offer for sale and/or sell the infringing products, and by soliciting end users to purchase and use the infringing products, in this District and elsewhere in the United States.” The complaint requests a trial by jury and seeks to enjoin the Defendants from continuing to infringe upon Plaintiff’s patent. Plaintiff also seeks a monetary award to compensate for the alleged infringement and demands treble damages for any infringement found to be willful. The case is Mitchell Ellis Products, Inc. v. Bouldin & Lawson, LLC et al., Case No. 1:14-cv-0194-N, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. The case was filed April 28, 2014.