William H. Morris Co. v. Group W, Inc.

OPINION *

I.

Omicron is a national distributor of the dietary supplement Food Source One. *257 Group W, which distributed Food Source One for Omieron, began preparing to market a new, competing product called Food Plus. Omieron learned of this new venture and terminated Group W on October 23, 1991. That same day, Omieron sent a letter to retail pharmacists who carried Food Source One. Omicron’s letter was titled “Counterfeit Food Source One & Copyright Infringement,” and advised the retail pharmacists that Omieron intended to “vigorously defend its copyrights, trade dress and product integrity.” The letter described three suits Omicron had filed charging unfair trade practices in connection with marketing Food Source One substitutes and concluded with this warning and request:

The letter made no explicit reference to Food Plus.

After a bench trial, the district court concluded that the letter was false or misleading because it implicitly, and falsely, suggested that Food Plus infringed intellectual property rights associated with Food Source One. In reaching this conclusion, the court relied in part on its finding that Omieron learned of Group W’s plan to begin marketing Food…