PODS wins $60.7M in trademark lawsuit

CLEARWATER —PODS Enterprises Inc. has won a lawsuit against U-Haul International Inc. The jury found U-Haul liable for federal and state trademark infringement and dilution of the PODS trademark as well as unfair competition and deceptive trade practices.

PODS successfully argued that it owned the trademark and logos for “pods,” the shortened name for portable on demand storage.

U-Haul had argued that “pods” was a generic term and that as such PODS Enterprises' trademark was invalid.

The jury awarded PODS Enterprises $60.7 million in damages.

“PODS is the genuine brand leader in the containerized moving and storage industry and the jury's finding recognizes that the PODS brand has become famous nationwide,” Aaron Parker Sr. vice president, general counsel of PODS Enterprises Inc., says in a press release.

Founded in 1998, Clearwater-based PODS focuses on moveable container storage. To date, the PODS network has completed more than 500,000 long-distance moves, more than 2 million deliveries and has more than 150,000 PODS containers in service.