Defending the integrity of the American Petroleum Institute's engine oil certification program

Finnegan has successfully defended API and its engine oil certification program in numerous district court cases and before the TTAB. In one instance, we launched a multipart, simultaneous attack on twelve defendants, filing counterfeiting, trademark infringement, and false advertising claims in two different federal courts. We obtained multiple preliminary and permanent injunctions with each defendant agreeing to settlement. In another case, defendants falsely claimed their engine oil was licensed by API to use the API engine oil quality certification marks, which denotes an oil meets the stringent API engine oil performance standards. Ultimately, the defendants admitted to counterfeiting API’s engine oil quality certification marks and making false performance claims; they agreed to a 10-year ban on bottling or marketing any engine oil for diesel engines and for use in gasoline engines in cars, vans, trucks, and motorcycles; and they paid API’s litigation costs.