Back in early November of last year a lawsuit was filed against CTS Wholesale Sunglasses by Oakley. In the complaint, Oakley alleges that several styles of sunglasses sold by CTS Wholesale, LLC dba Wholesale Discount Sunglasses infringe on Oakley’s property.
You can read the entire lawsuit complaint here.
The short version of Oakley’s complaint is as follows:
- CTS Wholesale, LLC is selling sunglasses on the websites ctswholesalesunglasses.com and wholesalediscountsunglasses.com
- Oakley holds patents related to sunglass design and construction
- Oakley states that CTS Wholesale, LLC is selling sunglasses that infringe on Oakley’s patents
- Oakley states that CTS Wholesale, LLC is infringing on Oakley’s patents with the following sunglasses: “XSportz XS053″, “XSportz XS504″, “XSportz XS510″, “XSportz XS513″, “XSportz XS060″, “XSportz XS061″, “XSportz XS016″, “XSportz XS021″, “XSportz XS505″, “XSportz XS054″, “XSportz XS027″, “XSportz XS510″, “XSportz XS504″, “High Quality Sunglasses CTS2087″, and “High Quality Sunglasses CTS 12210″.
- Oakley is seeking an award of reasonable costs, expenses and attorney fees from CTS Wholesale, LLC, for CTS Wholesale to deliver up and destroy all infringing sunglasses, and for CTS Wholesale to cease selling sunglasses which infringe on Oakley’s patents.
This would appear to be a normal patent infringement lawsuit, but there are some additional details that I could add to this story.
First, Kirk Bachelder is the owner of CTS Wholesale, LLC and this is not the first time he has had legal issues with Oakley. Early in 2008, he was sentenced in federal court for selling counterfeit Oakley sunglasses over the internet.
Second, the two named websites in the lawsuit complaint are not the only websites where CTS Wholesale sells their products. They have a retain sunglass website at replicasunglasses4u.com and have announced the start of another website where they plan on selling sunglasses.
What does all this mean to you? Well, if you are in the business of selling replica sunglasses and you purchase your sunglasses from CTS Wholesale then you might have something to worry about.
People who buy wholesale sunglasses to resell are just as liable for the product they sell as are the suppliers they buy them from. That is why it is always important to know that the sunglasses you buy are not infringing on any patents, copyrights or trademarks.
We do not have the most current information on the status of this lawsuit, but until it resolves in the courts we strongly urge everyone to proceed with caution if purchasing any of the above named styles from CTS Wholesale.