Weber Grills Maker Sues
Competitor in Three-legged Case
Friday, May 6, 2016
From Crain’s Chicago Business
Weber-Stephen Products is trying to turn up the heat on a competitor for allegedly stealing a design at the heart of the company's line-up: the bulbous grill that's held up by three legs.
Weber-Stephen claims in a federal lawsuit that Char-Broil, a unit of Columbus, Georgia-based conglomerate W.C. Bradley, is infringing patents it owns by selling products that looks similar to the black grills it has made and sold for decades.
Char-Broil and W.C. Bradley “intentionally copied and offer in interstate commerce charcoal grill products that create the same overall visual effect and appearance as Weber's famous 3-legged kettle grill line,” according to a complaint Weber-Stephen filed in late April in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The products “are confusingly similar in total image, appearance and overall aesthetic look. As a result, the public is, and is likely to be, confused.”
In the suit, Palatine-based Weber-Stephen points to Char-Broil's Kettleman TRU-Infrared 22.5-in. Charcoal Grill as a product in violation of its patents.
Char-Broil introduced the grill in June 2015, saying in a statement at the time the product was its “latest breakthrough” and describing it as “an updated and improved kettle-style grill that is more efficient and easier to use.” The grill is now sold by major retailers such as Target, Lowe's Home Improvement and Wal-Mart, according to an online search.
Weber-Stephen compared its grills to Char-Broil's Kettleman product in the complaint.
The complaint highlights how companies will fight to defend patents associated with their distinctive products. Weber-Stephen also sued Sears Holding in a fight over Kenmore grills the Hoffman Estates-based retailer sold, according to legal website Law360 in its report last year. That case was settled earlier this year, according to court records.
“In general, Weber-Stephen has a strong brand, and so for them, protecting that brand is important,” said Mark Peterson, CEO at Robinwood Consulting, a Chicago-based company that specializes in intellectual property valuations.
Weber-Stephen is seeking an injunction forbidding W.C. Bradley from violating patents related to the three-legged grill design and an unspecified amount of damages. The company also wants its competitor to destroy all advertising that shows its three-legged grill and make an effort to recall the infringing products from customers who have purchased them, according to the complaint.
A spokeswoman for Weber-Stephen did not respond to requests for comment. In an email, Susan Wiggins, a vice president at W.C. Bradley, declined to comment on the case. Both W.C. Bradley and Char-Broil are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Weber-Stephen founder George Stephen began making and selling grills in the 1950s, the complaint says. In 2010, Chicago-based BDT Capital Partners purchased a majority stake in the company.
The company had sales of $800 million in 2014, according to Crain's list of the largest privately-held companies.
– By Micah Maidenberg
