ETS Express (PPAI 135148), which had been sued for alleged trademark infringement by Can’t Live Without It, LLC, dba S’well Bottle, prevailed in court, with a federal court jury in New York ruling unanimously in favor of the promotional product supplier.
At the end of the two-week trial in federal court in the Southern District of New York, the jury decided on March 29 that ETS Express was not liable on all counts. Sharon Eyal, CEO of ETS Express, argued in the case that bottles like the h2go Force, the bottle in question in the litigation, existed before S’well launched its product in 2010. ETS demonstrated that similar cola-shaped bottles have been available for some time and are currently sold by many resellers in both the retail and the promotional product markets.
“A company can’t simply take an existing design, put its name on it, and claim it’s theirs,” says Eyal.
After receiving a cease-and-desist letter in 2014, ETS replied and heard nothing further until S’well sued the Oxnard, California-based supplier in May 2017. Eyal adds, “I feel vindicated that the jury ruled in ETS’s favor and that we were able to deliver a win for the industry.”
