Trademarks, Damages, Defendant’s Profits, Affiliates Not Included Absent Veil Piercing, 5, 2
The Lanham Act allows a plaintiff to recover the defendant’s profits from infringement of plaintiff’s trademark. 15 U. S. C. §1117(a). This decision holds that absent proof of the elements of veil piercing, the statute requires that the damage award respect the principle of separate corporate existence. Thus, the profits of subsidiary or affiliate corporations that are not named as defendants, may not be added to the damage award absent proof that their separate corporate identities may be pierced.