Nautilus Group, Inc., which makes the BOWFLEX exercise machine, has just been ordered to pay damages in the millions to plaintiff Icon Health and Fitness.

Judge Tena Campbell upheld the jury’s award ($375,000 for trademark infringement and $7.5 million for false advertising), despite both parties’ motions to adjust the award, finding that the amounts were “supported by the record.”

Icon originally sued Nautilus in 2005 for using the Icon trademark SOFT STRIDER on Nautilus’ exercise machines, and for falsely advertising (in 650 documented instances) that its “power rod” feature was a patented feature. Nautilus plans to appeal the ruling.

Practice Pointer: A quick review of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database would have revealed a valid trademark registration for the mark SOFT STRIDER for treadmills. While treadmills and universal-style fitness machines may not be identical, they are sufficiently close to cause confusion.

This entry was posted by Tsan Abrahamson on Wednesday, April 5th, 2006 at 2:45 pm and is filed under Trademarks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.