Trademark Profit Awards Don’t Require Intent, SCOTUS Rules (2)

Trademark owners don’t have to show infringers’ willfulness in order to win an award from their profits, a unanimous Supreme Court said.

Romag Fasteners Inc., a watch fastener supplier to Fossil Group Inc., appealed to restore a $6.7 million jury award of Fossil’s profits granted after the fashion manufacturer was found to have infringed by switching to an unauthorized supplier. A district court judge nixed the award, a decision affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and vacated by the high court.

The decision remands the case to a lower court for further proceedings. It also ...