A New Mexico appeals court has affirmed a lower court’s ruling that Walmart’s sale of Black & Decker-branded coffee makers manufactured by a different company constituted an unfair trade practice, but that a class of consumers failed to establish damages.
According to the Aug. 9 opinion by the New Mexico Court of Appeals, Bruce and Kathleen Puma asserted various claims in the District Court of Bernalillo County against the two companies after the couple purchased a coffee maker with the Black & Decker brand-name logo at a Walmart in Albuquerque, according to the opinion. Black & Decker did not design, manufacture or distribute the coffee maker in question, which the Puma’s alleged violated the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act. The coffee maker was made by Applica Consumers Products, a company with a trademark licensing agreement with Black & Decker.
