A multi-office team consisting of New York litigators Marci Ballard and Viki Danta, and LA litigator Melissa McLaughlin, achieved a rare victory against counterfeiters of consumer goods, namely, ZIG-ZAG® Orange cigarette paper products. On the same day, in two separate lawsuits pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the team successfully argued that ex parte temporary restraining orders were necessary to prevent pervasive counterfeiting occurring on popular e-commerce websites. The team also convinced the Court that the defendants’ accounts should be frozen, securing thousands of dollars of potential damages for their clients North Atlantic Operating Company, Inc. and National Tobacco Company, L.P.
Finally, in a separate suit, the team obtained preliminary injunctions against manufacturers and exporters of counterfeit products from China, who were advertising and selling counterfeit products to U.S. buyers on DHGate.com. DHGate is a growing business-to-business platform that is becoming well-known for sourcing counterfeit products.
The two cases are North Atlantic Operating Company, Inc. et al. v. JingJing Huang et al., Civil Action No. 15-14013-TGB DRG, and North Atlantic Operating Company, Inc. et al. v. Walter C. Scott et al., Civil Action No. 16-12076-TGB DRG.