A Texas district court judge overturned the jury decision reached in a lawsuit between the national firm Premier Pools Management Corp. and a Dallas-area pool builder. Premier Pools, an independent builder in Lewisville, Texas, was in business 22 years when PPMC licensed another contractor to carry the Premier name about 25 miles away, in Allen, Texas. The owners of the independent firm sued, claiming that the overlap caused confusion and that the PPMC licensee made mistakes that hurt the older company’s reputation. The plaintiff claimed approximately $500,000 in financial damages. PPMC countersued. The jury offered up something of a mixed verdict, deciding that the independent builder’s trademark is eligible for protection in some counties named in the suit, and that the defendants willfully infringed on the trademark, but stopped short of awarding financial damages. Both parties requested that jury findings be overturned. The judge obliged, stating that some parts of the decision went against the evidence, while others were in direct conflict with each other. The parties meet this month to determine a new trial schedule.
