NutriBullet sues food manufacturer in wide-reaching IP complaint

US-based Capbran Holdings, which licenses the NutriBullet food processor, has sued a rival for importing allegedly counterfeit products that infringe copyright, patents and trademarks protecting the popular gadget.

Capbran and NutriBullet co-filed a lawsuit at the US District Court for the Central District of California against San Jose-based Tri Locus International.

According to the companies, Tri Locus imported counterfeit NutriBullet products into the California area without permission to use any of the intellectual property attached to the device.

On April 28, US Customs and Border Protection seized a shipment of counterfeit food processors with the marks ‘Magic Bullet’ and ‘NutriBullet’ in Los Angeles’s Long Beach Seaport, the complaint said.

The exporter of the products was named as Ningbo Yongyi Trading who, according to the complaint, NutriBullet and Capbran have “never conducted any business” with and did not authorise to manufacture or distribute their products.

Further, the companies claimed that Tri Locus infringed six trademarks related to the NutriBullet including for the phrases ‘Nutribullet’ and ‘Magic Bullet’.

Also included in the complaint, filed on August 10, are allegations that Tri Locus infringed the copyright for the design of a NutriBullet retail box, pocket nutritionist book and the user guide and recipe book.

The suit added that two patents, US numbers 500,633 and 532,255, which cover a portable blender and a mug, had been infringed.

NutriBullet and Capbran are seeking up to $10 million in damages, plus attorneys’ fees and costs.