What was filed
The complaint is Document 1, filed October 14, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The case is K&N Engineering, Inc. v. Evil Energy, Dark Horse Automotive Inc., Taizhou Yibai Auto Parts Co., Ltd., and Does 1-10, No. 5:26-cv-06049, and it includes a jury demand. It pleads five causes of action: trade dress infringement under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); false designation of origin under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); false advertising under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); unfair competition under California Business and Professions Code § 17200; and common-law trade dress infringement and unfair competition. Counsel are Hani Z. Sayed and Kaitlynne N. McKee of Rutan & Tucker, LLP.
What the complaint alleges
K&N says it has long sold high-performance automotive air filters under a distinctive deep salmon color it calls the K&N Salmon Filter Trade Dress, that it is the only manufacturer using that color on such products, and that it owns U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,398,416 for the color deep salmon as applied to air filters on the Supplemental Register. It states that Supplemental Register registration does not carry Principal Register presumptions and that it seeks to enforce the trade dress under Section 43(a) upon proof of acquired distinctiveness. It alleges the color is nonfunctional and ornamental.
It alleges that defendants manufacture, import, advertise, and sell competing aftermarket air filters through ievilenergy.com and third-party online marketplaces, applying the same deep salmon color without authorization, offering a 100,000-mile warranty that echoes K&N's mileage-based warranties, making unsubstantiated "better MPG" performance claims, and comparing, referencing, targeting, or disparaging K&N in advertising. It says the products are manufactured by or sourced from Taizhou Yibai in China and that the website is registered through Alibaba Cloud Computing Ltd. d/b/a HiChina. The prayer asks for preliminary and permanent injunctive relief against use of the trade dress and the challenged advertising, delivery up or destruction of marked filters and materials, damages and profits under 15 U.S.C. § 1117, attorneys' fees, punitive damages under California Civil Code § 3294, and other relief.