Tensions bubble over in Lush bath bomb dispute

Connecticut-based Tower Laboratories, a manufacturer of effervescent products, has hit cosmetics company Lush with a patent infringement lawsuit.

Tensions have bubbled over between the parties, with Tower filing a claim at the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday, September 19.

At the centre of the dispute is Tower’s US patent number 6,121,215, called “Foaming effervescent bath product”.

“The invention of an effervescent product … prepared so as to dissolve at a speed such that the product would create a foam was found to be novel and unobvious by the US Patent and Trademark Office, and the patent was granted,” said the claim.

Tower has been manufacturing effervescent products since the 1970s, and the ‘215 patent was issued in September 2000.

Lush sells allegedly infringing bath bombs through its website and in stores worldwide.

These bath bombs are sold under a range of names, including ‘Fizzbanger’, ‘Dragon’s Egg’, ‘The Experimenter’, and ‘Rocket Science’.

“It is anticipated that other products will be identified through discovery,” alleged Tower.

In June, Tower made Lush aware of the infringement twice, but Lush, through its counsel, said it would not “entertain further discussion”, according to the claim.

Tower claimed that it had offered Lush the opportunity to resolve the infringement.

“The Lush entities spurned that offer with no justification for their ongoing infringement. Accordingly, that ongoing infringement is wilful,” said the suit.

Tower is seeking a royalty worth more than $10 million, damages for infringement, and a jury trial.

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