Spartan Composites, LLC d/b/a FODS, and Spartan Mat, LLC v. Signature Systems Group, LLC

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Texas
DecidedJanuary 5, 2026
Docket4:24-cv-00609
StatusUnknown

This text of Spartan Composites, LLC d/b/a FODS, and Spartan Mat, LLC v. Signature Systems Group, LLC (Spartan Composites, LLC d/b/a FODS, and Spartan Mat, LLC v. Signature Systems Group, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spartan Composites, LLC d/b/a FODS, and Spartan Mat, LLC v. Signature Systems Group, LLC, (E.D. Tex. 2026).

Opinion

United States District Court EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS SHERMAN DIVISION

SPARTAN COMPOSITES, LLC d/b/a § FODS, and SPARTAN MAT, LLC, § § Plaintiffs, § Civil Action No. 4:24-cv-609 v. § Judge Mazzant § SEALED SIGNATURE SYSTEMS GROUP, LLC, § § Defendant. § MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Pending before the Court is Spartan Composites, LLC’s d/b/a FODS and Spartan Mat LLC’s (“Plaintiffs”) Emergency Motion for Interim Preliminary Injunctive Relief (the “Motion”) (Dkt. #230). Having considered the Motion, the relevant pleadings, and the applicable law, the Court finds that the Motion should be GRANTED. BACKGROUND The underlying facts are more thoroughly set forth in the Court’s October 21, 2025 Memorandum Opinion and Order and need no repeating here (Dkt. #154). Following a four-day trial in which Defendant was found to have misappropriated three of Plaintiffs’ trade secrets, Plaintiffs filed the pending Motion, asking the Court to enter a preliminary injunction preventing Defendant from “marketing, selling, renting, leasing, or manufacturing its DiamondTrack mat until final judgment is issued” (Dkt. #230 at p. 1). The Motion is opposed (Dkt. #233). Plaintiffs have filed a reply (Dkt. #235). LEGAL STANDARD A preliminary injunction seeks to “prevent irreparable injury so as to preserve the court’s ability to render a meaningful decision on the merits.” Miss. Power & Light Co. v. United Gas Pipe Line, 760 F.2d 618, 621 (5th Cir. 1985). Under Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, “[e]very order granting an injunction and every restraining order must: (a) state the reasons why it issued; (b) state its terms specifically; and describe in reasonable detail . . . the act or acts restrained

or required.” FED. R. CIV. P. 65(d). A plaintiff seeking a preliminary injunction must show: (1) a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; (2) a substantial threat that plaintiff will suffer irreparable harm if the injunction is not granted; (3) the threatened injury outweighs any damage that the injunction might cause the defendant; and (4) the injunction will not disserve the public interest. Nichols v. Alcatel USA, Inc., 532 F.3d 364, 372 (5th Cir. 2008). ANALYSIS

Plaintiffs urge the Court to restrain Defendant for two primary reasons: first, to prevent any alleged erosion of the spirit behind the jury’s verdict, and second, to prevent Defendant from “flooding the market” with its own line of “DiamondTrack” trackout mats (See Dkt. #230 at p. 1). Defendant argues that the proposed injunction is unnecessary and improper in scope (See Dkt. #233 at pp. 6–7). The Court must now determine whether Plaintiffs have requested a sufficiently narrow injunctive order and have further offered sufficient proof to satisfy the four elements necessary to support a preliminary injunction. As explained below, Plaintiffs have carried

their burden in both respects. I. Scope At the outset of its analysis, the Court notes again that Plaintiffs seek an injunctive order against Defendant specifically covering its “marketing, selling, renting, leasing, or manufacturing its DiamondTrack mat” (Dkt. #230 at p. 1). Defendant contests the scope of the proposed order, stating that the “breadth of emergency injunctive relief Plaintiffs seek does not even comport with the issues on which they succeeded at trial” (Dkt. #233 at p. 8). In structuring this argument, Defendant places great emphasis on the jury’s rejection of a trade secret in the collective manner in which Plaintiffs’ FODS mat was constructed (See Dkt. #211). Defendant argues that this Court risks over-enjoining it, and that “such an injunction amounts to an attack on the jury’s finding that

no trade secret exists in the size, shape, structure, composition, and single-piece manufacture of a trackout control mat” (Dkt. #233 at p. 9). As an alternative to Plaintiffs’ proposed relief, Defendant asks that it be enjoined only from utilizing Plaintiffs’ customer lists, marketing, advertising, sales, or pricing strategies to generate sales for its DiamondTrack mat (See Dkt. #233 at p. 9). The Court remains ever mindful of the legal requirement that “an injunction must be narrowly tailored to remedy the specific action which gives rise to the order.” OCA-Greater Houston

v. Texas, 867 F.3d 604, 616 (5th Cir. 2017) (citation modified). Accordingly, it turns to the jury charge to determine the proper scope of Plaintiffs’ requested relief. While the jury found that the collective manner in which the FODS trackout mat was created did not constitute a trade secret, it also found that the FODS trackout mat contained a trade secret in its proprietary molding process (Dkt. #211 at p. 1). To be clear, the jury expressly found that the unique molding process of the FODS trackout mat constituted a trade secret, and that Defendant misappropriated that trade secret (Dkt #211 at p. 3). In light of the jury’s findings, the Court is satisfied that any proposed

injunction pertaining to the marketing, selling, renting, leasing, or manufacturing of the DiamondTrack mat is sufficiently narrowly tailored to remedy any potential injustice associated with “the action which gives rise to the order,” or the misappropriation of Plaintiffs’ alleged trade secrets. Id. II. Substantial Likelihood of Success on the Merits The first element to address in the context of an injunction is whether Plaintiffs can demonstrate a substantial likelihood of success on the merits. In the context of this case, analysis of this element appears deceptively simple. After all, Plaintiffs have already succeeded at trial on the merits of many of their trade secret misappropriation claims. Most pertinent to the pending motion, Plaintiffs have succeeded on their claim that the FODS trackout mat contained a

proprietary molding process that constituted a trade secret, and that the trade secret was misappropriated by Defendant (See Dkt. #211). Plaintiffs’ success at trial, however, is not the end of the story in the context of this initial element. Plaintiffs cite a prior decision by this Court, Jostens, Inc. v. Hammons, and ask that the Court find in their favor on this element. No. 4:20-CV-00225, 2022 WL 2392311, at *2 (E.D. Tex. July 1, 2022). In Jostens, this Court determined that a party had effectively rendered moot any question

regarding a “substantial likelihood of success on the merits” because it had “succeeded on the merits for all of its claims.” Id. Here, Plaintiffs have not succeeded on the merits of all of their claims; rather, they have succeeded on a mere majority of them (See Dkt. #211). This is a distinguishment without a difference, however, as the requested injunction directly relates to the claims on which Plaintiffs have succeeded. The jury’s finding of the above-mentioned trade secret is naturally implicated by Defendant’s continued marketing, selling, renting, leasing, or manufacturing of a product that allegedly misappropriates it. As a result, the Court once again finds

that this element has been nullified by a party’s success at trial. Id. (noting further that “there is support for a post- trial preliminary injunction in cases where one is necessary to protect the jury’s verdict while briefing and argument continues on post-trial damage issues” (citation modified)).

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Spartan Composites, LLC d/b/a FODS, and Spartan Mat, LLC v. Signature Systems Group, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spartan-composites-llc-dba-fods-and-spartan-mat-llc-v-signature-txed-2026.