Dorman Products and Dayco Resolve Trade Dress Infringement Suit

COLMAR, Pa. — Dorman Products announced today that it has reached a negotiated business resolution regarding its dispute with Dayco Products, involving the appearance of Dorman’s automatic belt tensioners and certain statements made by both Dorman and Dayco pertaining to Dorman’s automatic belt tensioners.

Dayco originally filed suit against Dorman in August 2009, alleging trade dress infringement, false advertising and unfair competition based on Dorman’s sale of certain aftermarket automatic belt tensioners that are similar in appearance to corresponding Dayco products.

Under the terms of the resolution, Dorman will continue to market automatic belt tensioners, but has agreed to:

• Further modify the appearance of five SKUs out of a product line of 36 SKUs.
• Use the symbol ® any time Dorman refers to a Dayco belt tensioner part number that is registered as a trademark with the federal registry.
• With respect to Dorman’s belt tensioners only, not use the phrases "OE" or "SAE" to describe its belt tensioners as Dorman is not an OE supplier.

Also under the resolution, Dorman agreed to pay Dayco the nominal amount of $37,500.

"Since our automatic belt tensioner program launch in 2009, Dorman has been very pleased with the customer acceptance and growth of this program. Even during litigation, these products are currently supported by over 100 regional and national distributors. In 2011, we are still experiencing significant growth which is attributable to Dorman providing a quality product solution at an aggressive price point. We look forward to continued success in 2011 and thank our current customers for their support during this litigation," said Jeff Darby, senior vice president, sales.

Dorman Chairman and CEO Steven Berman, added, "This resolution ends the distraction of this litigation. We remain extremely committed to the continued expansion of our quality engineered automatic belt tensioner product line. Our customers are best served when we are focusing on new product development and not on litigation that offers no real value to them."