Decision Date: December 19, 2011 Court: D. Minnesota -

Patents: D610,710 and D610,711 -

Holding: Plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction GRANTED IN PART -

Opinion: Plaintiff Keystone Retaining Wall Systems, Inc. sued Basalite Concrete Products, LLC for infringement of U.S. Design Patents D610,710 and D610,711, entitled Wall Block and Wall Block Body, respectively. (Keystone also sued Basalite for breach of contract, utility patent infringement, trademark infringement, and trademark dilution.) Keystone sells 133EliteTM concrete blocks used to build retaining walls. Under a patent and trademark licensing agreement, Basalite produced and sold a similar construction block of the same name.

In 2006, Keystone and Basalite entered into a licensing agreement, which allowed Basalite to use a number of Keystone’s patents and trademarks to produce and sell the 133Elite block. When the contract expired, the parties did not formally renew the licensing agreement, though Basalite continued to pay royalties and Keystone continued to accept the payments. After a disagreement over the royalty payments, Keystone terminated whatever unofficial agreement the parties may have had after the contract expiration and sued Basalite for patent and trademark infringement.