Score one for the little guy. Following a three-week trial in Providence, a federal jury on Sept. 29 returned a verdict in favor of the North Kingstown-based Ocean State Job Lot in a trademark infringement case brought by French sporting goods manufacturer Salomon, S.A., a subsidiary of Adidas and its United States distributor Salomon, N.A.
The case revolved around Job Lot’s sale of previous model years’ Salomon alpine skis.
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Salomon had tried to protect its exclusive United States distribution system from low priced “gray market” imports. Job Lot had purchased excess inventory of previous model years’ Salomon skis through a broker from an authorized Salomon dealer in Japan. Salomon contended that the skis were intended for the Japanese market, not the United States.
The company claimed that Job Lot did not in fact have permission to sell the skis here. It then sued Job Lot for trademark and copyright violations. Job Lot claimed that it bought the skis on the open market and that Salomon was trying to stop competition.
The jury ruled in favor of Job Lot on the trademark claim. The copyright claim was withdrawn prior to trial. Job Lot President Marc Perlman said in a prepared statement last week that his company planned to put the skis on sale shortly.
Job Lot operates 45 stores throughout Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
