January 24, 2008

On January 24, 2008, Judge Ronald A. Guzman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted Coilcraft, Inc.'s motion to find Inductors, Inc. in contempt of court, and awarded Coilcraft $69,745 in attorneys' fees. Coilcraft is a worldwide leader in the supply of magnetic components, such as chip inductors, power magnetics, EMI filters, wideband transformers, chip coils, RF chokes and related products.

This ruling resulted from Inductor Warehouse's repeated violation of a consent judgment entered in Coilcraft, Inc. v. Inductor Warehouse, Inc. No. 98-C-140 (N.D. Ill.). In 1998, Coilcraft sued Inductors under the Lanham Act, alleging that Inductors' advertising misleadingly suggested that it was an authorized Coilcraft distributor. In settling the original case, the parties agreed to the consent judgment which imposed restrictions on Inductors' advertising. Coilcraft, however, later found that Inductors repeatedly ignored those restrictions and brought a motion to hold Inductors in contempt for its violations of the consent judgment.

The court granted Coilcraft's motion holding that Inductors repeatedly and deliberately violated the terms of the consent judgment. The court prohibited Inductors from using the advertisements at issue; ordered the removal of the advertisements from circulation; and further ordered additional limitations on Inductors' advertising. The court awarded Coilcraft its attorneys' fees and costs incurred in the contempt proceedings.

Coilcraft was represented in this matter by Karl Fink and John Flannery.