WEST PALM BEACH, FL—Shutts & Bowen LLP  announced a precedential appellate victory for Deltona Transformer Corporation, owner of the Battery Tender brand of battery chargers. In a published, precedent-setting opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the core of Deltona’s trademark win over competitor The NOCO Company (Deltona Transformer Corp. v. The NOCO Company, No. 24-13590).

The court confirmed that the Battery Tender marks are not generic – they are protectable, federally registered brands, and registration puts “a heavy thumb on the scale” against any genericness attack. It affirmed infringement based on NOCO’s use of the mark in its ads, product descriptions, and customer communications, holding that a product description can infringe even if a shopper never scrolls down to read it.

On remedies, the court upheld a $12,135,943.70 disgorgement of NOCO’s profits for willful infringement and sustained the permanent injunction crafted to close off the loopholes NOCO might otherwise exploit, protecting the brand from further infringement; with the separate $5.75 million punitive award which NOCO did not appeal, roughly $17.85 million in monetary relief stands undisturbed.

Deltona was represented by a Shutts & Bowen LLP team led by Patricia M. Flanagan, with Jodi-Ann Tillman and Camila Chediak.