No Time to Relax for Inflatable Lounger Companies

Guest Post by David R. Crowe

With their newly issued design patent in hand, Fatboy the Original B.V. and Fatboy USA have quickly acted to defend their place on the sand. 

           

(Photo Source: https://www.fatboy.com/lamzac, accessed 9/13/16)

The Lamzac® lounger uses an “air scooping” action to fill a pair of separate chambers, which when filled, creates an easily inflated lounger that can be transported and set up anywhere without the need for a pump.  The act of rolling up the open end of the lounger appears to take up the slack to give the lounger its desired level of firmness.

Prior to launching the Lamzac® lounger for sale in February 2015, Fatboy, sought a European Community Design registration in January 2015, which was used to provide a priority claim to a U.S. design patent application filed in July 2015.  On August 30, 2016 the USPTO granted to Fatboy U.S. Patent D764,823, protecting the ornamental design of the Lamzac® lounger.  Images from the ‘823 design patent are shown below.  In a search of documents assigned to Fatboy, no utility patents or published utility patent applications for the method of making or inflating this product were found as of this post.

 

When the ‘823 Patent was granted, Fatboy was ready.  The very next day, a suit was filed against EMRG, LLC, the alleged manufacturer or distributor of the PouchCouch^TM. (www.pouchcouch.com)  The case alleges infringement of the ‘823 Patent and was filed in the Northern District of Texas, the home district of Fatboy USA.  The case is currently awaiting an answer from EMRG.  The case is Fatboy the Original B.V. and Fatboy USA, LLC v. EMRG, LLC NDTX 3:16-cv-02520-K. 

The PouchCouch^TM

(Photo Source: Complaint filed by Fatboy in NDTX 3:16-cv-02520-K)

            The PouchCouch^TM is apparently not be the only product allegedly similar to the Lamzac® lounger.  Only two days after asserting infringement against the PouchCouch^TM, Fatboy was at it again, this time filing suit against Value Max Products, LLC.  Value Max is alleged to have harmed Fatboy with the “Aero Lounger” product shown in the advertisement below.  In this second suit, not only does Fatboy allege infringement of the ‘823 Patent, but also raises issues of unfair competition and copyright infringement based on allegations that the marketing materials below where taken from Fatboy as well.  This case, also in the Northern District of Texas, is Fatboy the Original B.V. and Fatboy USA, LLC v. Value Max Products, LLC NDTX 3:16-cv-02544-M.

(Photo Source: Complaint filed by Fatboy in NDTX 3:16-cv-02544-M)