3M secures settlements in price-gouging litigation
3M has settled with two companies it had accused of reselling N95 masks at inflated prices amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In recent months 3M has initiated a litigation campaign, using US trademark law to fight the alleged price-gouging of masks by a number of companies across the country.
On Friday, June 19, 3M and Hulomil told the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin that they had settled the dispute.
As part of the settlement agreement, the parties agreed to a permanent injunction, blocking Hulomil from selling 3M’s products except through an authorised distributor. Hulomil is also stopped from using any of 3M’s trademarks in correspondence or other offers of solicitation related to personal protective equipment, unless it is dealing with an authorised distributor.
3M, in a suit filed in late April, accused Hulomil of being a “deplorable pandemic profiteer” and allegedly attempting to sell 250,000 N95 masks to Wisconsin state for $3.75 per mask, approximately 250% to 350% above 3M list’s price. Hulomil and 3M agreed to a preliminary injunction less than one month later.
Meanwhile, in Florida, a judge at the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida dismissed 3M’s case on Friday, June 19, after the parties told the court they had settled.
In late April, 3M had sued TAC2 Global, accusing the company of offering to sell five to ten million 3M-brand N95 masks at more than 430% above 3M’s list price.
3M secured a temporary restraining order in mid-May, barring TAC2 Global from claiming it was an authorised 3M distributor.
3M has had success in many of its other suits too, securing restraining orders and injunctions against other companies.
Earlier this month, Orlando-based Geftico accused 3M of filing a suit that was “short on ultimate facts and long on inflammatory, derogatory, and conclusory assertions”, in an attempt to dismiss 3M’s suit against it.
3M had sued Geftico in mid-April, claiming that the company had used the 3M trademarks in a PowerPoint presentation, which purported to offer to sell 15 million 3M-brand N95 masks at more than 500% above 3M’s list price. The court granted 3M a temporary restraining order to stop Geftico from misusing 3M’s trademarks.
Geftico then hit back, urging the court to dismiss the complaint and alleging that 3M was rushing to file the suit, alongside its other price-gouging suits, to “take the heat off” itself for “the debacle of selling US-manufactured respirators to Canada and Latin America rather than to the US”.
