Mountain Safety Research, Inc. v. Coleman Outdoor Products, Inc.

869 F. Supp. 818, 32 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1465, 1993 WL 761077, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20397
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedJune 9, 1993
DocketNo. C91-1674C
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 869 F. Supp. 818 (Mountain Safety Research, Inc. v. Coleman Outdoor Products, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mountain Safety Research, Inc. v. Coleman Outdoor Products, Inc., 869 F. Supp. 818, 32 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1465, 1993 WL 761077, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20397 (W.D. Wash. 1993).

Opinion

ORDER ON DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

COUGHENOUR, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on defendants’ motion for summary judgment. After hearing oral argument on May 5, 1993 and having reviewed all relevant documents, the Court finds and rules as follows:

I. Factual Background

This suit is about lightweight camping stoves. Plaintiff, Mountain Safety Research (“MSR”), manufactures several models of stoves, including the highly successful Whisper Lite. According to plaintiff, the attraction to backpackers is the Whisper Lite’s light weight and ease of assembly.

The patent which gave MSR exclusive use of certain features on the Whisper Lite expired in August, 1992. Roughly four months previously, however, defendant Coleman Outdoor Products began selling its Apex stove, which is similar in design to the Whisper Lite. Defendants’ Exhibits 30, 46. Plaintiff subsequently filed this action, asserting federal and state claims for violation of its patent rights. Plaintiff also seeks to enjoin defendants from producing the Apex stove, despite expiration of its patent, on the grounds that it is so similar to the Whisper Lite that it violates its unregistered configuration trademark.

II. Discussion

There are two principal issues raised by defendants’ summary judgment motion: (1) whether the design of the Apex stove is [820]*820functional, thus precluding a suit for configuration trademark infringement; and (2) whether the Apex stove violated MSR’s patent prior to its expiration in August, 1992. In addition, the parties have briefed the issue of whether plaintiffs state law claims are preempted by federal law. Each issue is discussed in turn.

A. Configuration Trademark: Functionality

MSR’s patent expired on August 19, 1992. As such, the central issue in this litigation is whether plaintiff may enjoin production of defendants’ Apex stove for violating its configuration trademark. Plaintiff argues that its stoves are sufficiently similar to defendant’s Apex stove to create consumer confusion. Defendants counter that the Apex stove duplicates only the functional benefits of plaintiffs stoves, and thus cannot infringe plaintiffs configuration trademark.

Under the law of trademark infringement, the physical details and design of a product are protected from duplication by others only if they are nonfunctional and have acquired a secondary meaning. Clamp Mfg. Co. v. Eneo Mfg. Co., 870 F.2d 512, 515 (9th Cir.1989). In Clamp, the Ninth Circuit summarized the principles underlying the common law of functionality as follows:

The requirement of nonfunctionality is based on the judicial theory that there exists a fundamental right to compete through imitation of a competitor’s product, which right can only be temporarily denied by the patent or copyright laws. If the utilitarian aspects of the product are its essence, only patent law protects its configuration from use by competitors. Functional features of a product are features which constitute the actual benefit that the consumer wishes to purchase, as distinguished from an assurance that a particular entity made, sponsored, or endorsed a product. For an overall product configuration to be recognized as a trademark, the entire design must be nonfunctional. The right to copy better working designs, would, in due course, be stripped of all meaning if overall functional designs were accorded trademark protection because they included a few arbitrary and nonfunctional features.

Clamp, 870 F.2d at 516 (citations and quotations omitted, emphasis in original). Moreover, where the purported configuration is unregistered, the burden of proving nonfunctionality of the design is on the plaintiff. Id.

The Clamp court also set forth several factors to be considered when analyzing functionality: (1) the existence of an expired utility patent disclosing the utilitarian advantage of the design sought to be protected as a trademark; (2) the extent of advertising touting the utilitarian advantages of the design; (3) the availability of alternative designs; and (4) whether a particular design results from a comparatively simple or cheap method of manufacture. Id.

1. Expired Utility Patent Disclosing Functional Advantage of Design

Plaintiffs stoves are characterized by having a separate burner assembly and a horizontal fuel tank connected by a fuel tube. Ligrano Declaration, Exhibits 1-2. An air pump assembly is mounted in the opening of the fuel tank for pressurizing the fuel tank with air, and a fuel valve is mounted on the pump assembly for controlling the flow of pressurized fuel from the tank to the burner. Id. The fuel tube is disconnectable from the pump assembly so that the components can be separately packed. The fuel tank initially used by MSR was a conventional fuel tank made by Sigg, Inc. Deposition of Larry Penberthy, pp. 21-22.

Defendants argue that the description of the stove in 'MSR’s Patent No. 3,900,281 clearly establishes the functional nature of the stove design. Plaintiffs patent description is lengthy, but the functional features it touts can be summarized as follows:

(1) a separate burner assembly and fuel tank that are connected by a fuel tube;
(2) an air pump housing that screws into the neck of the fuel tank for pressurizing the fuel tank with air;
(3) a fuel tube that is releasable from the pump housing to enable quick disassembly of the fuel tank from the burner;
[821]*821(4) an empty fuel tank that can be replaced with a full fuel tank to eliminate the hazard of pouring fuel into the tank;
(5) a fuel valve that is located on the fuel tank at least 4 inches away from the heat of the burner so that a camper can adjust the flame without having his or her hand close to the heat.

Defendants’ Exhibit 83.

According to plaintiff, the patent states that the fuel bottle can be upright; however, its stove has a horizontal fuel bottle. Plaintiff further argues that the patent makes no reference to the color of the fuel bottle, which on both stoves is red. Plaintiffs arguments on this point are misplaced, as they concern the overall similarity of the design, not whether MSR’s patent touts functional advantages. Even if they were relevant, however, plaintiffs contentions would lack merit. First, whether the fuel tank is horizontal or vertical cannot reasonably be considered the difference between overall functionality and nonfunetionality of the Apex stove design. Safety concerns would seem to dictate that the fuel bottle be horizontal because a cylinder standing on end would be less stable. Indeed, the safety benefits of a horizontal fuel tank were attested to by the founder of MSR and the patent’s inventor, Mr. Penberthy, in his deposition. Penberthy Dep. p. 34-35. Second, the fact that defendants’ fuel bottles are red, as are plaintiffs, does not destroy the functionality of defendants’ stove design. On the contrary, the color red is often used to connote caution, and surely caution is required when handling a tank containing pressurized gas.

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869 F. Supp. 818, 32 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1465, 1993 WL 761077, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20397, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mountain-safety-research-inc-v-coleman-outdoor-products-inc-wawd-1993.