CHICAGO — CirTran Corporation, the distributor of Playboy Energy drinks, claimed another victory in its battle with the entertainment giant, claiming a federal court in Illinois has reaffirmed an earlier decision to dismiss a complaint brought by Playboy Enterprises against Play Beverages, a partner of CirTran Beverages.
Playboy and CirTran have been in an ongoing legal battle over use of the Playboy trademark including the iconic rabbit head symbol.
CirTran maintained that beverage sales in 20 countries represents a large percentage of CirTran revenues and earlier this month said the Playboy-branded drink accounted for 98 percent of CirTran’s 2013-second quarter sales.
"This 'win' gives CirTran and PlayBev a 6-pack of victories in our legal battles with Playboy," Iehab J. Hawatmeh, managing partner of Play Beverages and founder, chairman and president of CirTran, said. "This result is very satisfying as we continue to grow our beverage distribution business with Playboy Energy as the flagship.”
But earlier this month, Playboy vowed to continue the fight despite a ruling last July by a Chicago judge that barred it from terminating its energy drink licensing agreement with CirTran.
Commenting on the latest development, Playboy told XBIZ, “Playboy intends to focus its efforts on the momentum that we have against Play Beverages and its principals in the pending, state-court action. The dismissal without prejudice of this federal action allows Playboy to do just that. It preserves Playboy’s full rights to get an injunction against PlayBev/CirTran and to re-file this federal action, if and when appropriate in the future."
