February 28,2019:

Variety Stores filed a lawsuit against Walmart in 2014, accusing them of infringing the Trademark ‘The Backyard’ (US number 1,847,503), it is a department in the store which deals in lawn and garden supplies.

According to their complaint, the mark ‘The Backyard’ is registered by Variety Stores in 1993. Variety expanded this section to sell goods like barbecues and outdoor grills. The variations of the mark, “The Backyard + Design” and “The Backyard BBQ” was also registered and has been in use ever since.

According to the complaint, a Variety employee first discovered that Walmart was using the phrase “The Backyard Grill + Design” for the promotion of its grill products.

Upon discovering it, the chain filed an opposition to Walmart’s application to register it as a Trademark for barbecues and smokers. Walmart was accused of willful infringement of Variety's Trademarks, and they were asked to pay for additional damages as well. In 2016, the Court ruled in favour of Variety and found that Walmart had infringed the mark.

They ordered Walmart to $32 million to Variety in profits but denied its request for additional damages. Variety appealed against this decision and calculation of Walmart’s profits from the infringing activity.

The Federal Circuit rejected the District Court’s previous decision and remanded the case back to the lower Court for a jury trial.

On 12th February 2019, the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina ordered Walmart to pay $95.5 million in royalties and profits to the Variety Stores. They also ordered them to stop using the term for smokers and barbeques.

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