Just as quietly and strangely that it happened, it ended. Cincinnati-based Tire Discounters and Moosic, Pa.-based Jack Williams Tire & Auto Service settled a federal trademark infringement lawsuit on Sept. 18, just over a month after it was filed.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, and U.S. District Court judge Robert Mariani dismissed the case.
Tire Discounters filed the trademark suit on Aug. 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, alleging that Jack Williams Tire’s use of the slogan “With Every Tire Installation Get Out the Door With More” on its website violated Tire Discounters’ trademarked phrase “Out the Door With More,” which appears on its website.
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.” The two dealerships don’t compete with each other in any way, geographically or in any market segment.
Tire Discounters was 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.
As of this morning, both dealers continued to use the phrase on their respective websites.
Jack Williams Tire was founded in 1929, and 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.
