GE tackles oil and gas equipment supplier in TM claim

General Electric (GE) has taken an oil and gas equipment supplier to court in Texas, alleging that the company has infringed its trademarks.

The suit was filed against GE Petroleum Equipment (Beijing) and its marketing centre, Texas-based GE Petroleum Equipment, at the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division on Tuesday, January 31.

Several of GE’s businesses operate in the oil, gas and energy industries, including GE Oil & Gas, GE Energy Connections, GE Renewable Energy, and GE Power.

GE owns trademarks such as the ‘GE’ word mark and the GE ‘monogram’ design mark, which has remained “virtually unchanged” since 1900.

“The GE marks are particularly strong and famous in the oil, gas and energy industries within the state of Texas,” said GE.

GE Petroleum offers goods and services for the oil and gas industries, according to the claim, and it operates under the mark ‘GE Petroleum’.

According to GE, the defendants’ mark is “confusingly similar” to its marks, and the goods and services provided under ‘GE Petroleum’ and the associated marks are “extremely similar, if not identical”, to some of the goods and services provided by GE.

“Defendants’ use of GE conveys the impression that defendants are part of a conglomerate,” said the claim.

It added: “This exacerbates the likelihood of consumer confusion with GE because GE is a well-known diversified multinational corporation.”

GE said it first learned about the unauthorised use in May 2016, when representatives from GE Oil & Gas encountered GE Petroleum at a trade show in Houston, Texas.

GE’s outside counsel in China then sent a demand letter to GE Petroleum’s headquarters in Beijing, and after receiving the letter, GE Petroleum posted a “disclaimer” on its website explaining that GE Petroleum has no relationship with GE.

But even in posting the disclaimer, “defendants have demonstrated their wilful efforts to trade off” GE’s goodwill, the company said, because the disclaimer was a one-time posting in the news section of the website.

GE then sent two more demand letters, one to the China-based company and one to GE Petroleum’s “alter ego” in Texas.

The conglomerate is seeking injunctive relief, triple damages, an account of profits, costs, attorneys’ fees and a jury trial.

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