14th Amendment-Trademark Infringement

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Charles Curry, Jr. v. Revolution Laboratories, LLC

Case No.: 23-2850

Officials: Hamilton, Scudder, and Lee, Circuit Judges.

Focus: 14th Amendment-Trademark Infringement

Curry, Jr., a former competitive powerlifter and bodybuilder, launched Get Diesel Nutrition, a nutritional supplements business, in 2002. In 2005, he introduced a testosterone-boosting supplement called “Diesel Test.” In 2016, Revolution Laboratories, LLC, founded by Joshua and Barry Nussbaum, began selling a supplement also named “Diesel Test.” In 2017, Curry, filed a lawsuit against Revolution and the Nussbaums, claiming trademark infringement under the federal Lanham Act and Illinois common law. Curry’s case went to trial in May 2023, where the jury ruled in his favor.

The jury awarded Curry $2,500 in actual damages for the loss of goodwill and reputation, as well as $500,000 in disgorgement of Revolution’s profits from the infringement. Additionally, the jury granted $300,000 in punitive damages against Joshua, Barry, and Revolution, totaling $900,000. Subsequently, the district court determined that disgorgement of profits under the Lanham Act was an equitable remedy, to be decided by the judge. The court recalculated the disgorgement amount to $547,095.44.

The defendants challenged the district court’s decision to allow Curry’s request for punitive damages and argued that the punitive damages were excessive and violated the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. The Seventh Circuit found that the decision to allow Curry’s request for punitive damages was not an abuse of discretion, and that the punitive damages awarded were not constitutionally excessive. The court concluded that the ratio of punitive damages to the total of compensatory and disgorgement awards was constitutionally permissible.

Affirmed.

Decided 12/19/24

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