Whirlpool Gets 5th Cir. to Uphold Ban on KitchenAid Lookalikes

Whirlpool Corp. convinced the Fifth Circuit to uphold a ban on a Chinese competitor selling mixers that allegedly infringe the trade dress of its KitchenAid products.

Shenzhen Sanlida Electrical Technology Co. Ltd. needed to be merely on notice and not served for the court to have authority to grant a preliminary injunction, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said in a Friday opinion. The court also rejected Shenzhen’s argument that injunction factors like likelihood of success on the merits weighed against barring sales during the litigation.

The Fifth Circuit’s precedential ruling stressed that its 1978 precedent ...