NASHVILLE — Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations L.L.C. is suing Apollo Vredestein B.V. over Apollo's use of one of its tire product trade names..
The Bridgestone Americas Inc. subsidiary claimed its trademark "nza" suffix had been used unlawfully used on Apollo's Vredestein Pinza tire line.
The lawsuit, filed Jan. 12 in U.S. District Court, pointed to Bridgestone's key trademarks — which includes Potenza, Turanza, and Alenza, some dating back to 1981 — claiming Apollo's Pinza brand was "confusingly similar."
Due to "the distinctive nature and inherent strength" of the trademarks and because of their "widespread use, advertising, publicity, promotion; and billions of dollars of sales," Bridgestone said, adding the three brands were "commercially strong and famous."
In 2006, Bridgestone opposed an intent-to-use application for the mark Milanza for tires owned by Federal Corp. due to potential confusion. The initial ruling in that case was that the marks Potenza and Turanza "had not achieved significant recognition independent of the famous Bridgestone house mark" and that the Milanza mark would not "cause confusion."
However, on appeal, the verdict was reversed, with the court ruling that "the prolonged exclusive use of these marks, the extensive promotion and marketing, the billions of dollars of sales of tires bearing these marks, shows commercial strength."