03.06.2010

Use of the Spiderlift name blocked in USA

US suspended platform manufacturer and rental company SafeWorks, which also uses the Spider and PowerClimber brands, has succeeded in its legal battle against Teupen America/ The Spider Lift Company/ Extreme Access Solutions, all of which are owned and managed by Lenny Polanski, preventing them from using the spiderlift or spider lift terms. SafeWorks had apparently issued cease and desist notices in both 2004 and again in 2008.

Polonski set up the original American Spider Lifts business in 2003 when he obtained the US distribution rights for Teupen spider lifts. He changed the name to Teupen America in 2005, following the first cease and desist notice, and then in 2008 changed it to The Spider Lift Company. The year before he had attempted to register the Spiderlift brand and The Spiderlift Company. The Extreme Access Solutions name came into being at around the same time.

Teupen the manufacturer has stressed that it is not involved in any way with the lawsuit, nor is its wholly owned US subsidiary Teupen USA. It has also failed to support its distributor and is now planning to sell its products direct in the North America.

Extreme Access Solutions and The Spider Lift Company have been ordered to stop using the spider related names within 20 days and pay fines equivalent to the company’s net profits during the period of infringement period of August 2004 to December 2009. This has been calculated at $56,882, based on the defendants calculations. It will also have to pay SafeWorks' legal fees, which it has yet to calculate.

This ruling comes just six months after Safeworks lost a similar case against Spydercrane and its use of the term Spyder.

Vertikal Comment

The term spider lift is widely used to describe machines with spider leg type outriggers, and the products are never confused with the Spider suspended platforms, they are used for entirely different applications and specified by an entirely different clientele. Safeworks use of the Spider name is weak and not as widely recognised as Safeworks or PowerClimber is.

It is a sad indictment that most other participants, including Teupen simply rolled over and stopped using the spider lift name in North America after being threatened by Safework's lawyers. It does look as though Polonski was somewhat foolhardy in trying to register the name and changing the corporate name back to Spider Lift. Having said that the evidence presented was distorted or unbalanced in places and it seems to us that once again those with the deeper pockets have won.
This is hardly justice.