Mud Buddy Sues Gator Tail Over ‘Big Blade’ Trademark

Mud Buddy LLC, a maker of boat motors and propellers, sued a Louisiana-based competitor for trademark infringement.

The suit, filed Feb. 4 in federal court in Utah, alleged that Gator Tail LLC of Loreauville, Louisiana, has infringed Mud Buddy’s “Big Blade” trademark.

According to court papers, Mud Buddy’s Big Blade is a propeller designed for use in shallow, muddy vegetation-filled water. The company said it has used the mark since 2006 and promoted its mud-motor propellers under that name.

The West Jordan, Utah-based company accused Gator Tail of sending one of the mud blade propellers to a manufacturer in efforts to duplicate the product. Gator Tail is now selling its own mud propellers, using the Big Blade trademark, according to court papers.

The public is confused and deceived by Gator Tail’s actions, Mud Buddy claims, and asked for a court order barring the Louisiana company from any future use of Mud Buddy’s trademarks. Additionally, it requested awards of Gator Tail’s profits derived from the alleged infringement, money damages, litigation costs and attorney fees.

Alleging the infringement is deliberate, Mud Buddy asked that extra damages be levied on Gator Tail to push the Louisiana company for its actions.

Gator Tail didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.

The Louisiana company sued Mud Buddy for patent infringement in federal court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in February 2008, alleging three of its patents were infringed.

In December 2008, Mud Buddy sued Gator Tail for allegedly infringing a patent covering a drive assembly.

According to Bloomberg data, neither case has gone to trial.

Mud Buddy is represented by Jed H. Hansen and Peter M. DeJonge of Thorpe North & Western of Sandy, Utah, and Samuel C. Straight of Ray Quinney & Nebeker PC of Salt Lake City.

The trademark case is Mud Buddy v. Gator Tail, 2:11-cv- 00138-DN, U.S. District Court, District of Utah. The earlier patent case is Mud Buddy v. Gator Tail, 2:08-cv-00972w-TC-PMW, U.S. District Court, District of Utah. The Louisiana patent case is Gator Tail v. Mud Buddy, 3:08-cv-00125-MVL-DEK, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge).

LMAO - What a joke! MB just wants to sue everyone. Sucks that any company has to get involved in suits. Sounds like some of these suits need to get to court so they can use them as future benchmarks

Its a sue happy world we live in....

Guess Kyle better give Mr. Guidry a call. Are the props even similar? Seems I've read they don't perform the same...

I know Mercury helped with the design. Want to say after they got all the kinks worked out, they started manufacturing them on their own, but I don't really know.

What a joke. 2 totally different props. all you have to do is look at them and it's obvious.

Mud Buddy is a fuking JOKE!!!! Glen Foreman copy the design, everyone can see what he did. He couldnt steal the reverse on GT because its patten, so what he going to do next come out with a motor design like a PD but change the angle to a 90 degree ware he could turn the lower unit around like FPR and he can use a dog leg like on a outboard for a regular reverse, that's what i thinks going to happen soon than PD going to have to bring him to court and shut his azz down like GT is about to do!!!! But after all that said by that time his going to have made all the money he needed to make.

So I guess china can sue Godevil for stealing there design that they being using forever its the same chit.....

Just sayin...............

the props arent even the same size.......this is phuckin childish BS on MB's part.

damn ya'll are fukin ignorant

they suing for using "Big Blade"

Gatortail website calls is "Big Blade Prop". All they have to do is change it to say "Bigger Blade Prop" and all will be good.

Name it "Better Prop"

That is pretty chicken sh!t. They need to get over themselves and just get on with life. So fukin what if they got simular sh!t. If thats the case, seem like go devil should be suin everybody for makin "mud motors". Not cheerleadin or anything, just sayin. After all, werent they the first?

SETX is gonna be really interresting!! Fork it just soon sue me for the video i'm gonna make!!!

That sawed off guy has been suin me for years. I just start the fire in my livin room with his little legal threats he sends me. He is all puff and threat . Everytime I get one of them letters I just get on here an type up more truth about his crazy unethical antics. Mmayes gets all uptight though and one of these days he is gonna make another trip out to Utah.

He ain't been there since big little G offered me and him a nice lump of cash for a brand new pd and a brand new gt when the reverses were first coming out. Mmayes got so mad he wouldn't eat his cheeseburger. I grabbed a couple beers and got him on the plane. That's about the time that everything started to get really bad.

Didn't GT and MB team up on that BB prop when it first came out??? I seem to remember a short dating period between the 2.......

And the saga continues.......

I'm thinking of getting me a flag with "BIG BLADE" on it to run!!! Maybe a shirt to!!

its amazing how industries soon become such a corporate deal, like where the oenwers of the company dont even know anything baout the product they actually sell. they just do things exactly like mudbuddy's done, its like harbor freight, designing things just like whats already been done instead of engineering and designing new technology.

they just do things exactly like mudbuddy's done, its like harbor freight, designing things just like whats already been done instead of engineering and designing new technology.[/quote]



So What you are saying is that they did make a copy infringment?

I wanted to comment on this thread to say that while it is a legitimate topic (stating public record), I must remind everyone that the terms and conditions of the site still apply. Keep in mind that everyone is responsible for their own actions on MMT and that making slanderous remarks toward a company or company owner can result in legal action.