From aftermarketNews Staff & Wire Reports
STITTSVILLE, Ontario, Canada – Kingdom Auto Parts (KAP) has reported that on Sept. 25, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan issued an opinion finding that Tenneco Automotive failed to demonstrate a strong likelihood of success on the merits of its unfair competition claims premised on KAP’s use of Tenneco’s stamped part numbers and alleged selling of Kingdom Auto Parts struts under the “Quick-Strut” mark, or its claim of copyright infringement. The court also found that any claim of Tenneco that KAP’s “StrutTEK” complete strut assemblies were inferior to OEM struts, lacked scientific foundation, Kingdom said.
KAP is currently involved in two other lawsuits. In May, Dayco Products filed suit against Kingdom Auto Parts for trademark infringement, trade dress infringement, false designation of origin, unfair competition and patent infringement related to certain aftermarket automatic belt tensioners and pulleys sold by KAP in the United States.
In a related matter, Kingdom Auto Parts filed its own lawsuit in federal district court in Detroit, Mich., to respond a trade letter issued Sept. 9 by Steve Handschuh, president and COO of the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association [a segment of MEMA], which stated that the brands of MEMA member companies are "at risk," based on alleged conduct of Kingdom Auto Parts. Kingdom said its suit challenges any attempt by MEMA to assert that cross-referencing of manufacturers’ names, brands and part numbers is an improper practice in the aftermarket for automotive replacement parts.
Handschuh responded to news of KAP’s suit with the following comment, "We have not been served with the complaint and therefore cannot respond to it. However, we do find it surprising and noteworthy that the lawsuit apparently challenges our sending out a bulletin that simply describes two lawsuits. Beyond this, we can make no comment at this point."
