SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 25: A Stanley transit bottle is displayed on a shelf at a Target store on January 25, 2024 in San Rafael, California. The wildly popular Stanley mugs are going viral again, this time many of the users are claiming that the products contain lead. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Connecticut-based Stanley Black and Decker is suing the maker of Stanley mugs over its use of the name.
The lawsuit filed this week claims Pacific Market International, which makes the popular drinkware, violated an agreement from 2012 about when and how it could use the name.
Stanley also sells branded products including indoor and outdoor hardware and equipment, clothing, gloves, hats, footwear, bags and more.
The suit alleges that when millions of the mugs were recalled last year, the use of the name Stanley made it seem like the defective products came from Stanley Black and Decker.
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The company, based out of New Britain, is now asking for damages in the lawsuit and for Pacific Market International to send out corrections making the distinction between the two clear.
"PMI has willfully and intentionally ignored the carefully crafted restrictions of the parties' agreement, choosing instead to use Stanley broadly, including in ways that the parties' agreement expressly prohibited and that infringe on Stanley's trademark rights," the lawsuit states.
Stanley Black and Decker goes on to say that the maker of Stanley drinkware "breached [their] agreement and infringed Stanley's rights in order to seize upon an opportunity to expand and rebrand its product offerings."
Business
You can read the full lawsuit below:
