Facts

Plaintiff Daito Denki Kogyu K.K. dba Daito Electric Machine Industry Company Ltd. is the owner of a U.S. patent on a massage chair with an apparatus that massaged the lower leg. Plaintiff Human Touch LLC is the exclusive distributor for Daito products in the U.S. Human Touch owned several trademarks including Human Touch, Human Touch Technology, and HTT Human Touch Technology.

Daito and Human Touch filed suit against defendants KingKong USA Inc., American Lighting Industry Inc., WFO Imports LLC, Bernard Koay, and Blair Hayes for trademark infringement, patent infringement, false advertising, and unfair competition.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Human Touch and Daito contended that defendants were illegally using the plaintiffs' patent trademarks in order to sell similar massage chairs in violation of both trademark and patent law.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
The defendants denied all allegations.

Result

The jury found in favor of the plaintiffs in the amount of $9,540,353. The award included $1,726,727 lost profits from WFO Imports; $2,833,371 unfair competition from KingKong USA; $425,005 unfair competition from Koay; $4,555,250 unfair competition from American Lighting Industry Inc. During trial, defendants KingKong USA, Inc., American Lighting Industry, Inc., and Koay settled the patent infringement claims against them for $400,000. As a result of post-trial motions, the award against Koay was vacated. All other awards were affirmed.

Other Information

FILING DATE: March 29, 2006.

Length

17 days