A plumbing fixtures manufacturer has been hit with a lawsuit over alleged misuse of Consumers Digest’s trademarks and service marks in its advertising.
Briggs Plumbing Products Inc. of Charleston, SC used the magazine’s Best Buy seal without permission on its Web site and in ads and brochures, the suit charges. The firm also allegedly used a knockoff version of the seal.
Consumers Digest Communication LLC has asked the court for a restraining order, and for damages and attorneys’ fees. At press time, attorneys for both sides reportedly had opened talks to resolve the case.
According to the complaint, a Briggs toilet, the Vacuity Whisper Vac 6040, won a coveted Best Buy designation in the July/August 1997 issue of Consumers Digest, and again in the March/April 2000 issue.
Briggs never exercised its option to license the Best Buy marks, but it later used them without authorization, the papers stated.
The complaint noted that Briggs lost its eligibility to license the marks when its product failed to be named a Best Buy in a March/April 2004 review of plumbing products. The review “superseded” the earlier ones, it said.
Briggs executives had no comment. Attorneys for Consumers Digest had not answered calls by deadline.
The case was filed last month with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern division.
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