The Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader is reporting that Cincinnati-based tire retailer Tire Discounters has filed a federal trademark suit against eastern Pennsylvania’s Jack Williams Tire & Auto Centers.
The suit, filed on Aug. 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, alleges that Jack Williams Tire’s use of the slogan “With Every Tire Installation Get Out the Door With More” on its website (jackwilliams.com) violates Tire Discounters’ trademarked phrase “Out the Door With More,” which appears on its website (tirediscounters.com).
In the suit, Tire Discounters claims that Jack Williams Tire’s “willful and deliberate acts of infringement” are “likely to cause confusion and mistake, and to deceive consumers regarding the approval, sponsorship, license, source or origin of Jack Williams Tire’s services.” With that claim, Tire Discounters is seeking a stop order from the federal court as well as any and all profits made by Jack Williams Tire since it began using the allegedly trademarked phrase.
Tire Discounters wants the federal court to stop Jack Williams from using the slogan and wants all Jack Williams’ profits since it started using the slogan and triple damages.
Tire Discounters, according to suit, has used the phrase “Out the Door With More” since October 2002, and registered it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in November 2003. The story did not outline other places or media where that phrase was used, or note any alleged uses by Jack Williams Tire except on its website. It is not known if Tire Discounters had previously contacted Jack Williams Tire in a private effort to resolve the matter.
Jack Williams Tire, based in Moosic, Pa., and founded in 1929, is a tire wholesaler and retailer with more than 25 retail locations throughout Pennsylvania.
Tire Discounters, founded in 1976 by Chip Wood in Plainville, Ohio, has 89 retail locations in Cincinnati; Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Lexington, Ky.; Louisville, Ky.; and Nashville, Tenn.
