Ohio Federal Court Awards Damages to Matco for Breach of Contract, Trademark Infringement, and Misappropriation of Trade Secrets -

A federal court in Ohio has granted a franchisor’s unopposed motion for summary judgment against a former franchisee, awarding damages for the franchisee’s attempt to continue to use Matco’s marks and trade secrets after termination. Matco Tools Corp. v. Urquhart, 2020 WL 364242 (N.D. Ohio Jan. 22, 2020). In July 2014, Urquhart entered into a distributorship agreement with Matco. In March 2019, Urquhart effectively stopped buying tools from Matco, even though his truck still bore the trademarked Matco logos, and he was still servicing the “List of Calls and Potential Customers” provided to him by Matco. Given Urquhart's purported abandonment of his Matco distributorship, Matco terminated the distributorship. In contravention of the post-termination restrictions contained in the agreement, Urquhart continued to sell non-Matco tools to the customers on the List of Calls provided to him by Matco, and to use Matco's marks in the operation of his competing business.