Appeals Court Asks For Chill In Snowball Wars

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has asked for a detente between two frozen-ice confection companies that have waged legal war with one another for more than ten years. Southern Snow Manufacturing Co. and SnoWizard Inc. have battled over the rights to syrup flavors, patents for snowball-making equipment, and other things, filing upward of 200 claims. “What began as a flurry of cease-and-desist letters between the companies has turned into a blizzard of patent, trademark, and antitrust litigation,” the court wrote in its ruling. “Each party has attempted to use the courts to freeze the other out of the sno-ball market. … The parties could have shaved down the overwhelming costs in time, expenses, and scarce judicial resources that this litigation has consumed if they could have abandoned their unrelenting desire to crush the opposition.” Southern Snow claimed that SnoWizard bought up patent and trademark rights between 2003 and 2008 to generate lawsuits against competitors, and asked that SnoWizard and its attorneys be charged for running a criminal racket. The Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that Southern Snow’s claims lacked evidence to merit a RICO Act violation.