Press ReleaseCoudert
Brothers
PRESS RELEASE
A $7.5 million verdict was handed down by a US District Court jury in Fresno for copyright infringement and conversion claims regarding architectural plans for a travel plaza. Ronald Katz, Managing Partner of Coudert Brothers' West Coast offices tried the case for plaintiff Flying J, Inc., an oil company that is the largest operator of truck stops in the United States. Flying J travel plazas are constructed from a copyrighted design incorporating efficiencies in saved labor expenses and traffic flow. Defendants Thomas G. Pistacchio, and Central California Kenworth, Inc., Ron Daggett dba Daggett & Associates, obtained a copy of the plans without permission and, based on those plans, built a truck stop which they eventually leased to a Flying J competitor. The jury found that defendants Central California Kenworth, Pistacchio and Daggett infringed on plaintiff's copyright and converted Flying J's architectural plans. They awarded $3.7 million in damages for copyright and conversion; and attributed $1.9 million in profits to the infringement for each defendant Central California Kenworth and Thomas Pistacchio. According to Coudert Brothers' partner Mark Wildasin, who tried the case with Ronald Katz, "The verdict sends a strong message that juries value intellectual property equally with other, tangible property." Respectfully submitted, Tina Love |
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