Law360 | ITC Probe Broadens Rockwell IP War With Radwell

Alston & Bird client Rockwell Automation Inc. has won a significant victory at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), which unanimously upheld an Administrative Law Judge’s finding that gray market importers of Rockwell’s industrial automation products infringed several of Rockwell’s trademarks.

Alston & Bird secured approximately $10 million in damages for Rockwell Automation in its suit against an Italian counterfeiter Parcop S.R.L. (doing business as WiAutomation) in the District of Delaware. The final judgment—including $3.2 million in treble damages and $3.8 million in disgorgement—more than doubled the jury’s August 2023 award of $4.3 million. In a trailblazing verdict, the jury found WiAutomation, an Italian industrial equipment reseller, liable on five counts—trademark Infringement, counterfeiting, false designation of origin, deceptive trade practices, and unfair competition—for selling counterfeit and gray market Rockwell-branded manufacturing products in the United States.

Alston & Bird secured a groundbreaking jury verdict for Rockwell Automation, achieving a significant milestone for trademark owners who have long struggled to enforce their intellectual property rights against unauthorized gray market importers.

Sam Bragg, Paul Tanck, Greg Carbo, and Neal McLaughlin are noted for representing Laboratorios Pisa S.A. and its U.S. subsidiary, CAB Enterprises Inc., in a trademark infringement lawsuit against PepsiCo filed in the Southern District of Texas, and Paul Tanck is quoted.

Sam Bragg, Paul Tanck, Greg Carbo, and Neal McLaughlin are mentioned for representing Laboratorios Pisa S.A. and its U.S. subsidiary, CAB Enterprises Inc., in a trademark infringement lawsuit against PepsiCo filed in the Southern District of Texas.