Vantage Trailers, Inc. v. Beall Corp.

EDITH H. JONES, Chief Judge:

Vantage Trailers, Inc. (“Vantage”) filed suit seeking a declaratory judgment that its design for a new aluminum bottom dump trailer would not infringe any valid trademark rights held by Beall Corporation (“Beall”). In a thorough and well-reasoned opinion, which develops the facts more thoroughly than we need do here, the district court dismissed the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because Vantage did not have a substantially fixed and definite trailer design when it filed the action. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Beall manufactures and sells an aluminum…