Akerman LLP is proud to announce that its litigation success in an intellectual property trial in 2021 has won the acclaim of Chicago's Law Bulletin Media in its 11th annual "Trial Lawyer Excellence Awards." The Akerman lawyers involved were celebrated on the evening of Tuesday, October 25th, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, in an event attended by more than 200 attorneys and 35 judges.
Brian Bianco, Julia Lissner, and Jay Schafer, all Chicago partners of Akerman, were the legal team in Atturo Tire Corp. v. Toyo Tire Corp., Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. and represented Waukegan-based Atturo Tire Corp. In September 2021, an Illinois federal jury awarded Akerman client Atturo Tire Corp. $110 million in total compensatory and punitive damages after a five-day trial. The jury found Atturo's adversaries, Toyo Tire Corp. and Toyo U.S.A. Corp. liable for unfair competition, defamation, unjust enrichment, deceptive trade practices, and tortious interference.
The dispute dated back to 2013, when Toyo brought an International Trade Commission action for design patent infringement. Toyo did not sue Atturo in the ITC or bring any trade dress claim there. Nevertheless, Toyo began conditioning settlement of the ITC action on permanent agreements of many other companies in the tire industry to never sell, manufacture, distribute, or import Atturo’s Trail Blade M/T tire, one of its signature products. As the jury found, Toyo also misrepresented to Atturo’s existing and prospective customers and manufacturing partners that Toyo owned and Atturo infringed a trade dress right in Toyo’s Open Country M/T tire.
“On top of last year's trial victory, this is a great accolade for Akerman," said Bianco. "We are very grateful to Law Bulletin Media for the publication's recognition of this hard-fought win."
The Atturo trial win was another success for Akerman in a long string of wins in the Atturo lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois, including several summary judgment victories, multiple sanction orders against Toyo, and exclusion of three Toyo expert witnesses.
Brian Bianco is the Chair of the Akerman Intellectual Property Practice Group; Jay Schafer is a partner in that group; and Julia Lissner is a partner in the Litigation Practice Group of the firm. Law Bulletin Media publishes Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Chicago Lawyer, Jury Verdict Reporter, and Sullivan's Law Directory, among other titles.
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