Mark Ouweleen Wins Appeal For Sunstar In Longstanding Trademark Dispute

10.2009

After nearly a decade of litigation, Bartlit Beck convinced the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to vacate a judgment against Sunstar, a leading manufacturer of consumer products in Japan.  The judgment would have prevented Sunstar from using the Japanese VO5 brand on its best-selling hair-care products—a $100 million line of business. 

In an October 28, 2009 opinion by Judge Richard Posner, the Court of Appeals found for Sunstar and held that Alberto-Culver had "tried to use a hypertechnical, but more important an unsound, interpretation of the licensing agreement to extort additional compensation" from Sunstar. 

The case was remanded to the district court for further proceedings. 

Click here to read Judge Posner's opinion.