H-E-B sues Chinese companies again for infringement on Kodi coolers
H-E-B is a San Antonio-based grocery company.
JHVEPhoto/Getty Images
A Chinese company is the target of a lawsuit from H-E-B once again, with the San Antonio-based grocer claiming the company is infringing on a patent of the hometown brand of cooler products. H-E-B claims in a lawsuit filed earlier this month that three Chinese partnerships are supplying the coolers to different companies by “funneling them through a different entity,” reports the San Antonio Express-News.
The three companies named in the lawsuit are Ningbo Kuer Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Ningbo Kuer Kayak Co. Ltd., and Ningbo Kuer Outdoor Products Co. Ltd., which the lawsuit refers to collectively as “Kuer.” These companies were named in a lawsuit in February 2020, along with companies like Home Depot and its Everbilt brand, alleging coolers similar to the Kodi brand were being sold in stores under a different name.
The photographs show comparable views of a Kodi 20-quart cooler, left, and a Kuer 20-quart cooler.
Court document
Kuer agreed to not sell coolers with a pressure release valve, which was at the center of the 2020 lawsuit. H-E-B once again alleges that brands are using similar pressure release technology. The brands of coolers named in the lawsuit are Big Frig, Frosted Frog, and Pierce Arrow.
San Antonio-based H-E-B alleges in this new lawsuit that the “marketplace is filled with Kuer’s infringing products, hidden behind other brand names, which will require inordinate amounts of time and money to track down.”
H-E-B seeks an unspecified amount of financial and punitive damages. The company also seeks a court order that prohibits Kuer from making and selling products that infringe on its cooler patents. MySA reached out to H-E-B for comment.
