Body Support Systems, Inc. v. Blue Ridge Tables, Inc.

934 F. Supp. 749, 40 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1498, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10868, 1996 WL 403943
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Mississippi
DecidedJuly 25, 1996
Docket1:96CV161-D-D
StatusPublished

This text of 934 F. Supp. 749 (Body Support Systems, Inc. v. Blue Ridge Tables, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Body Support Systems, Inc. v. Blue Ridge Tables, Inc., 934 F. Supp. 749, 40 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1498, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10868, 1996 WL 403943 (N.D. Miss. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

DAVIDSON, District Judge.

This cause comes before the court upon the plaintiffs request for a preliminary injunction based upon several different theories. After presiding over a hearing on the matter on June 21, 1996, in Oxford, Mississippi, and reviewing the briefs and exhibits submitted by the parties, the court is of the opinion that the plaintiff is entitled to injunctive relief. As such, the motion of the plaintiff for a preliminary injunction shall be granted.

FACTUAL FINDINGS

The plaintiff, Body Support Systems, Inc. (“BSS”), is an Oregon corporation that has been in business since 1987. Its principal product is a therapeutic' cushion labeled the bodyCushion. A photograph of this support bolster is attached as Appendix A to this opinion. While the internal components of the bodyCushion are protected under a pat *752 ent issued to the president of BSS, Tom Owens, on October 8, 1991, the overall product itself is not patented nor subject to a registered trademark.

Sometime during 1990, Owens and Michael Wingard, the president of the defendant, Blue Ridge Tables, Inc. (“Blue Ridge”), discussed the possibility of Blue Ridge tendering an offer on the manufacture of the body-Cushion. 1 Wingard claimed that, due to Blue Ridge’s location and low Mississippi wages, he could produce the product much cheaper than BSS could in Oregon. Pursuant to these assertions, BSS provided Blue Ridge with the trade secrets and product specifications of the 1990 model version necessary to enable BSS to tender an offer. 2 BSS did so, however, under the protection of a confidentiality agreement executed by Wingard on behalf of Blue Ridge. In any event, these discussions did not bear fruit and BSS refused to license Blue Ridge to manufacture the bodyCushion.

In August 1995, BSS learned that a product manufactured by Blue Ridge which appeared identical to the bodyCushion was exhibited at a massage therapist trade show called the Pacific Symposium in San Diego, California. BSS ordered one of these products from Blue Ridge the following day and ordered a second one two weeks later. A photograph of this Blue Ridge product is attached as Appendix B to this opinion. Finally, in the January/February 1996 issue of the trade journal Massage, Owens noticed an advertisement for the product manufactured by Blue Ridge labeled “The Embracer.” In the magazine, the Embracer appears to be almost indistinguishable from the 1990 version of the bodyCushion with identical listed uses and attributes. BSS filed suit against Blue Ridge in May 1996, requesting the injunctive relief which is the subject of the court’s opinion today.

DISCUSSION

I. GENERAL PREMISES FOR INJUNC-TIVE RELIEF

It is well-settled that a plaintiff must prove four elements to be entitled to preliminary injunctive relief:

1) a substantial likelihood of success on the merits;
2) a substantial threat of irreparable injury if the injunction is not issued;
3) that the threatened injury to the plaintiff outweighs any harm that may result from the injunction to the defendant; and
4) that the injunction will not disserve the public interest.

DSC Communications Corp. v. DGI Tech., Inc., 81 F.3d 597, 600 (5th Cir.1996); Rodriguez v. United States, 66 F.3d 95, 97 (5th Cir.1995), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 116 S.Ct. 1058, 134 L.Ed.2d 202 (1996); Cherokee Pump & Equip., Inc. v. Aurora Pump, 38 F.3d 246, 249 (5th Cir.1994); Doe v. Duncanville Indep. Sch. Dist., 994 F.2d 160, 163 (5th Cir.1993); Plains Cotton Co-op Ass’n v. Goodpasture Computer Serv., Inc., 807 F.2d 1256, 1259 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 821, 108 S.Ct. 80, 98 L.Ed.2d 42 (1987); Canal Authority of Fla. v. Callaway, 489 F.2d 567, 572 (5th Cir.1974).

This court pays more than lip service to the apothegm that a preliminary injunction is an extraordinary remedy. Cherokee Pump, 38 F.3d at 249. It is “not to be granted routinely, but only when the movant, by a clear showing, carries [the] burden of persuasion.” Black Fire Fighters Ass’n v. City of Dallas, 905 F.2d 63, 65 (5th Cir.1990) (quoting Holland Am. Ins. Co. v. Succession of Roy, 777 F.2d 992, 997 (5th Cir.1985)); Cherokee Pump, 38 F.3d at 249 (“The decision to grant a preliminary injunction is to be *753 treated as the exception rather than the rule.”) (quoting Mississippi Power & Light v. United Gas Pipe Line Co., 760 F.2d 618, 621 (5th Cir.1985)).

II. TRADE DRESS INFRINGEMENT

A. SUBSTANTIAL LIKELIHOOD OF SUCCESS ON THE MERITS

The first and most exhaustive element addressed by the parties at the hearing and throughout their submissions to the court is whether BSS will likely prevail on the merits of its claims against Blue Ridge. “To determine the likelihood of success on the merits, we look to the standards provided by the substantive law.” Abate v. Southern Pacific Transp. Co., 928 F.2d 167, 171 (5th Cir.1991) (quoting Roho, Inc. v. Marquis, 902 F.2d 356, 358 (5th Cir.1990)). The plaintiff’s claims include violation of

federal statutory law prohibiting trade dress infringement (being § 43(a) of the Lanham Act); the same statute’s general prohibition against unfair trade practices, passing off, dissemination of injurious falsehood, and unfair competition in general associated with the marketing of goods; the Mississippi tort prohibitions against unfair competition, passing off, and injurious falsehood; and a Mississippi common law contract action for the breach of the Agreement on the part of Blue Ridge.

Plaintiff’s Memo, of Law in Supp. of Prelim. Inj. Motion, at 4r-5 (internal footnote omitted). In its quest for injunctive relief, however, BSS chose to rely on only three theories: trade dress infringement, breach of contract and disparagement. The court need not address both the infringement and breach of contract claims since it finds that BSS is substantially likely to succeed on the merits of its trade dress infringement claim and the requested injunctive relief is the same under either theory.

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934 F. Supp. 749, 40 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1498, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10868, 1996 WL 403943, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/body-support-systems-inc-v-blue-ridge-tables-inc-msnd-1996.