Let this be your warning. If you are not Whirlpool Corporation, you can’t arbitrarily use images of genuine Whirlpool products to sell your non-genuine, third-party branded stuff. Essentially that’s what a jury has said by ruling in Whirlpool’s favor in a case against the company called FiltersFast.
The jury returned its verdict in Whirlpool’s favor, finding that FiltersFast’s marketing practices were willful and were likely to deceive consumers. The jury also awarded Whirlpool $5.8 million.
FiltersFast was prominently and deceptively referencing Whirlpool Corporation’s brands and using images of genuine Whirlpool products to sell non-genuine, third-party branded water filters. Those filters did not meet Whirlpool’s high quality standards and were not certified to remove as many contaminants as genuine Whirlpool filters.
Doug Searles is General Manager of Consumer Products Group & WLabs at Whirlpool. He says, “Whirlpool succeeds by ensuring that our brands are an extension of our promises to those who buy our products.” Searles adds, “We are grateful for the jury’s assistance in helping us keep those promises and at the same time, helping to protect the rights of consumers to make an informed purchasing decision with the confidence they will receive the products and performance that they desire.”
Whirlpool Corporation filed the lawsuit against FiltersFast LLC back in October of 2017 in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina alleging that FiltersFast violated their trademarks including EveryDrop, Whirlpool, Maytag, PuriClean, Amana, JennAir, and KitchenAid.
Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool Corporation is the world’s leading major home appliance company, with approximately $21 billion in annual sales, 92,000 employees and 65 manufacturing and technology research centers in 2018.
