Major lawn care company sues pest control brand for copyright infringement

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – An Ohio lawn care company is taking a competitor to court, claiming they’ve ripped off the company’s trademark and harmed its reputation.

The Scotts Company, owned by The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, filed a lawsuit on June 20 against a company selling an electric mosquito killer, claiming the product’s name too closely resembles the name of a line of Scotts pest control products. The similarity is intentional, Scotts asserts – it’s designed to trick customers into buying the competitor’s product.

Many of Scotts’ pesticides and animal repellents bear the mark “B GON,” in variations including “BUG-B-GON,” “SNAKE B GON” and “MOLE B GON.” The Marysville company began using the mark “B GONE” in 1945, according to the complaint, and has 11 registered “B GON” trademarks dating to 1996.

The B GON line has become a household staple, Scotts argued, and the company has spent “extraordinary resources” promoting the line and maintaining its good reputation.

“The B GON marks are inherently distinctive, have become favorably known among consumers as used in connection with the B GON Products, and have become an invaluable symbol of the source of goods bearing the B GON Marks, of the high quality of goods bearing the marks, and of the goodwill associated with the marks,” the complaint read.

So, when the company Make Great Sales Limited filed two trademark applications in July 2020 for a mosquito zapper and insect repellent skin patch called “BUZZBGONE,” Scotts’ related company, OMS Investments, filed in opposition. The company claimed Make Great Sales Limited’s use of “BGONE” would confuse customers and dilute the influence of Scotts’ trademark.

Scotts claimed the same in its federal complaint, accusing Make Great Sales Limited of violating federal, state and common law trademark laws, and of intentionally deceiving customers into believing that the BUZZBGONE mosquito killer and skin patches are Scotts products.

“The public will wrongly associate the lack of quality and/or prestige of [the BUZZBGONE product] with Scotts, constituting dilution by tarnishment,” the complaint read.

An attorney for Scotts declined to comment. Make Great Sales Limited has not been served as of Thursday.

Make Great Sales Limited has sold BUZZBGONE products since as early as 2018, according to trademark application documents. It began selling its products on Amazon in 2021.

The attorney representing Make Great Sales Limited in its trademark application declined to comment, but in a May 2021 response to Scotts’ opposition, she rejected the lawn care company’s claims that her client’s use of “BGONE” infringed on the trademark. Scotts’ “B GON” marks are neither strong nor distinctive, Make Great Sales Limited claimed, and the BUZZBGONE products are not similar to Scotts’ pest control sprays.

“[Make Great Sales Limited’s] goods are electric devices and personal skin patches that do not alter ecosystems, are not toxic to humans, and do not spread along the food chain,” the reply read. “Applicant’s goods are NOT encompassed within [Scotts’] identifications.”

Scotts has asked a judge to permanently bar Make Great Sales Limited from using the “B GON” mark, abandon its trademark applications, and recall all BUZZBGONE products. Scotts also wants Make Great Sales Limited to deliver all BUZZBGONE products and promotional materials for destruction – and to disclose how much it has made in product sales.

Make Great Sales Limited has filed – and abandoned – several trademark applications resembling the marks of well-known brands. 

In June 2022, less than a month after filing an application, the company abandoned its requests to trademark “WHO WANTS TO BE A CRYPTOBILLIONAIRE” for an online store, board games, T-shirts, hats and mobile phone games, trademarks Sony Pictures Television opposed. The company also abandoned an application for a “CRYPTO PURSUIT” board game, opposed by Hasbro. Two applications for computer network hard drives, “INFINITIWIFI” and “INFINITIWIFIKLOUD,”  remain open and contested by telecommunications company Comcast.

Read the legal complaint below.