Jury Finds in Favor of Whirlpool Corporation in Water Filter Deception Case

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Mar 14, 2019, 07:00 ET

BENTON HARBOR, Mich., March 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A jury returned its verdict in Whirlpool Corporation's (NYSE: WHR) favor, finding that FiltersFast's marketing practices were willful and were likely to deceive consumers. The jury also awarded Whirlpool $5.8 million.

FiltersFast was prominently and deceptively referencing Whirlpool Corporation's brands and using images of genuine Whirlpool products to sell non-genuine, third-party branded water filters. These filters did not meet Whirlpool's high quality standards and were not certified to remove as many contaminants as genuine Whirlpool filters.

"Whirlpool succeeds by ensuring that our brands are an extension of our promises to those who buy our products," said Doug Searles, General Manager, Consumer Products Group & WLabs, Whirlpool Corporation. "We are grateful for the jury's assistance in helping us keep those promises and at the same time, helping to protect the rights of consumers to make an informed purchasing decision with the confidence they will receive the products and performance that they desire."

Whirlpool Corporation filed this lawsuit against FiltersFast LLC in October 2017 in the United States District Court for the Western District for the Western District of North Carolina alleging that FiltersFast violated our trademarks including EveryDrop, Whirlpool, Maytag, PuriClean, Amana, JennAir, and KitchenAid.

About Whirlpool Corporation
Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is the world's leading major home appliance company, with approximately $21 billion in annual sales, 92,000 employees and 65 manufacturing and technology research centers in 2018. The company markets Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, JennAir, Indesit and other major brand names in nearly every country throughout the world. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com, or find us on Twitter at @WhirlpoolCorp.