Venable litigators Marci Ballard (NY), Viki Danta (NY), Melissa McLaughlin (LA), and Maria Sinatra (NY) achieved another victory for Venable client North Atlantic Trading Company (NATC), the exclusive U.S. distributor of ZIG-ZAG® brand cigarette paper products.
In August 2017, Venable filed suit under the Lanham Act in the Central District of California, and obtained an ex parte TRO and seizure order against two groups of wholesalers of counterfeit ZIG-ZAG® cigarette paper products. Both groups operated in a neighborhood known as "counterfeit alley" in Los Angeles. One group was sued previously, and had been under a permanent injunction preventing further sales of counterfeit ZIG-ZAG® products. Not only did Venable obtain a contempt order, including contempt damages and attorneys' fees, it negotiated a more robust permanent injunction and a significant monetary settlement payment, with substantial liquidated damages if defendants violate the injunction again. The case is North Atlantic Operating Company, Inc. et al. v. LA Price Check LLC et al., Civil Action No. 2:17-cv-05920-VAP-AFM (C.D. Cal. 2017).
The team has represented NATC in online counterfeiting matters for several years. Other successes noted here.