Intellectual Property Law

Shingle Manufacturer Obtains Permanent Injunction, with Compliance Options

By Michael Atkins

In CertainTeed Corp. v. Seattle Roof Brokers, a manufacturer of asphalt shingles filed suit against James Garcia, a “roof broker” who allegedly made false statements about CertainTeed’s roofing products.

On June 28, Western District Judge Richard Jones granted summary judgment for CertainTeed on its false advertising and Consumer Protection/Unfair Business Practices Act claims, and imposed a permanent injunction.

In doing so, the court found Mr. Garcia’s falsehoods included statements that CertainTeed’s product “will not be able to pass a resale inspection after 15 to 20 years”; that “one roofing contractor reports submitting over 600 warranty claims to CertainTeed within the last four years”; and CertainTeed’s product “have a history of premature failure.”

Gotta love a court that gives its parties options.

In its permanent injunction, the court stated: “As to Mr. Garcia’s website (whether at www.seattleroofbrokers.com or any other domain he controls), he has two options. He may, at the top of every page on his website, include a prominent hyperlink (of a font size at least as large as any other font used on the page) to an electronic version of this order. The text of the hyperlink shall include the following statement: ‘Please click here for court order finding that this website contains false statements.’ His website must continue to include these hyperlinks until he removes every false statement that violates this order, at which time he can notify the court that the false statements have been removed. If the court finds that the false statements have been removed, it will permit him to remove the hyperlinks. Alternatively, Mr. Garcia may take his website ‘offline,’ remove the false statements, submit the new website content to the court for approval, and await court approval before placing his website online.”

The case cite is CertainTeed Corp. v. Seattle Roof Brokers, No. 09-563 (W.D. Wash. June 28, 2010) (Jones, J.).

Full post as published by Seattle Trademark Lawyer on July 01, 2010 (boomark / email).