Stanley Black & Decker sues Sears over Craftsman brand
Sears emerged from bankruptcy barely a month ago — and owner Eddie Lamp💦ert is already making it new enemies.
Stanley Black & Decker sued Sears this week for launching a product it claims is in direct competi💟tion to a tool brand Sears sold to S🤪tanley for $900 million in 2017.
Stanley’s Manhattan federal court lawsuit says Sears is now claiming to be the “real home” of the 92-yea𝔍r-old Craftsman brand — even introducing a competing product line, the Craftsman Ultimate Collection, without getting approval from Stanley.
“By touting itself as ‘the real home of the broadest assortme🧸nt of Craftsman’ Sears is implying that only its Craftsman merchandise is ‘genuine’ and that all other Craftsman products are ‘illegitimate,’ ” Stanley said.
Stanley is seeking a temporary restraining order to stop ꧑Sears from selling the new products.
“With all the🥃 legal troubles Sears ha𒐪s, you’d expect it to be more careful,” patent and trademark attorney Justin McNaughton of Greenspoon Marder told The Post. “Something went off the rails here.”
Sears filed for bankruptcy in October 2018 after more than a decade of being run by Lampert,🌠 whose hedge fund ESL Investments was the largest shareholder. In February, ESL won court approval to buy back the company for $5.2 billion.
Sears is allowed to sell Craꦏftsman tools under a limited licensing deal, but the New Britain, Conn.-based manufacturer claims Sears went rogue with its Cra🌃ftsman line announced in a Feb. 21 press release.
The new line has been confusing custo🌟mers on Craftsman’s own Facebook page, according to the suit.
“Anyone know anything about the Craftsman Ultimate Collection?” asked a reader while someone else responded that it was “the re♏al Craftsman not the garbage stanley black and decker stuff.”
Separately, in bankruptc☂y court, Stanley is objec𒉰ting to ESL owning the licensing rights Sears inked with Stanley in 2017, bankruptcy court filings show.
“The Craftsm𓃲an mark would suffer both brand degradation and value diminution if it were assigned to ESL,” a filings states.
A Sears spokesman declined to comment.