Nike Must Pay Lontex’s Legal Fees in Trademark Suit, Judge Rules

A federal judge in Pennsylvania ordered Nike Inc. to pay all of Lontex Corp.’s attorneys’ fees “and almost all of its expenses” after the smaller company’s lawyers, “showing great skill,” convinced a jury that Nike is liable for contributory trademark infringement.

But Judge Michael M. Baylson, in an opinion Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, cited “a major difference between the outcomes in the bifurcated trial” in denying Lontex’s request for fees paid to its damages experts.

A jury last November awarded more than $500,000 in damages for Nike’s contributory infringement of ...