A Houston federal judge on Thursday awarded Chevron U.S.A. and affiliate Chevron Intellectual Property $15.6 million in a final judgment that found Houston-based Sariel Petroleum and several individuals infringed on Chevron’s trademarks maliciously, willfully, fraudulently and deliberately.
The final judgment, issued by U.S. District Judge David Hittner of the Southern District of Texas, follows a one-week trial in February that resulted in a Houston federal jury awarding Chevron $1.1 million in disgorged profits as a result of the trademark infringement. The court, which ruled on most of the issues pre-trial, added the remaining $14.5 million in Thursday’s ruling.
Chevron filed its lawsuit in January 2018, alleging the defendants infringed on five logo marks and three word marks via on letterhead, in emails, in oral and written communications, with regard to online domain names and on one or more bank accounts.
In its original complaint, Chevron charged that Sariel and several co-defendants had been using Chevron letterheads and logos “to create an entirely fraudulent business for the purpose of duping third parties to contract with them.”
Of the $15.6 million, $9.6 million accounted for disgorged profits and $6 million accounted for trademark counterfeiting. The court also awarded pre- and post-judgment interest and attorneys’ fees, partially due to an exhaustive discovery process that included six separate hearings throughout the life of the two-year case.
The ruling also enjoined the defendants from continuing to use the name “Chevron USA Products,” any of Chevron’s trademarks, the mark Chevron or the stylized Chevron design mark on any materials, as well as the domain name chevronus.com.
Thursday’s ruling is a win for a team of Houston lawyers from King and Spalding, who represented Chevron at trial. The team included Craig Stanfield, Christie Cardon, Abby Parsons, Kathleen McCarthy and Bruce Hurley.
The Texas Lawbook has reached out to lawyers on both sides for comment. More details will be added as they become available.