April 2019. The barbecues that US supermarket chain Walmart has been selling under its Backyard label look like turning into an expensive joke. On 12 February, the District Court in North Carolina ordered the grocery multinational to pay discount store chain Variety Stores $ 95 million for infringing the latter’s trademark.
From $ 32 million ….
Variety, which has owned rights to the name Backyard since 1993, took Walmart to court in 2014 for trademark infringement. In 2016, the court found in Variety’s favour and slapped $ 32 million in damages on Walmart.
… to $ 95 million!
Variety clearly thought that wasn’t enough, and appealed the decision. Successfully, as it turned out: it’s now been awarded $ 45 million in royalties and an additional $ 50 million in compensation for the profits Walmart made on the Backyard. Which adds up to a total of $ 95 million: jackpot!