SUD FACTORY car-care brand sues Philadelphia-area car wash companies over the SUD'S FACTORY name

What was filed

The complaint is Document 1 in Qwik Rise LLC v. Matisse Partners LLC, No. 2:26-cv-08302-GAW (E.D. Pa.), filed October 29, 2026, with a jury demand. The docket lists Judge Gail A. Weilheimer. The plaintiff is Qwik Rise LLC d/b/a Sud Factory, a Hawaii company based in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. The defendants are Matisse Partners LLC, a Delaware company; Christopher P. Caporale and Kenneth C. Fordham III, individuals residing in Pennsylvania; Sud's Factory IP Holder LLC; and Broomall Car Wash LLC, Rhawnhurst Car Wash LLC, Oxford Ave Car Wash LLC, Chester Pike Car Wash LLC, and Bustleton Pike Car Wash LLC, Pennsylvania companies that the complaint says operated five car wash locations.

What the complaint alleges

Qwik Rise says it has used SUD FACTORY for automobile cleaning products since June 2019 and owns Reg. No. 7,847,243 for "Cleaning preparations for automobiles" in Class 3, issued July 1, 2025. USPTO TSDR lists that registration as owned by Qwik Rise LLC. The complaint alleges that on February 21, 2024, Christopher P. Caporale, writing from a Matisse Partners email address, told Qwik Rise that "We have customers on a monthly basis leaving us reviews that are meant for your business," and that consumers contacted Qwik Rise to cancel car wash memberships it never sold. It says Qwik Rise petitioned the TTAB to cancel Sud's Factory IP Holder LLC's SUD'S FACTORY registration, Reg. No. 6,796,508, that the registrant surrendered it on April 9, 2025 while the proceeding was pending, and that the TTAB ordered it cancelled. TSDR lists that registration as cancelled by the TTAB, with a status date of April 9, 2025. The complaint alleges that the parties exchanged draft coexistence terms but did not conclude or sign a final agreement, that counsel for the car wash business later asserted that Qwik Rise had authorized continued use at five locations in exchange for the surrender, which Qwik Rise disputes, and that the car washes kept using the names after notices in January and May 2026. It says counsel for the car wash business represented in June 2026 that the SUD'S FACTORY signage had been removed or covered, and that the locations have since been rebranded.

Claims and relief

Qwik Rise pleads four counts, each against all defendants: infringement of a registered mark under 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1); false designation of origin, false association, and unfair competition under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1)(A); and Pennsylvania common law trademark infringement and unfair competition. It asks for a judgment of liability; an accounting; each liable defendant's profits under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a); enhancement of the monetary award under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a) in the amount the court finds just; compensatory damages, including corrective advertising; attorneys' fees as an exceptional case; costs and interest; a permanent injunction against resuming use of SUD'S FACTORY, SUDS FACTORY, or a confusingly similar name for automobile-cleaning goods or services; removal of any remaining uses; an order to remove, or seek Google's removal of, reviews about Qwik Rise mistakenly posted to the car washes' Google Business Profiles; a sworn compliance report; and other relief.