ISRI Says Court Grants Motion to Dismiss BAN Lawsuit

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has announced that the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle has granted ISRI a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Basel Action Network (BAN) against ISRI and the International Association of Electronics Recyclers. The suit alleged ISRI’s “use of its generic certification mark” for its Certified Electronics Recycler program.

According to an ISRI release, the court’s decision explains in clear and certain terms that the court has neither subject matter jurisdiction over the claims nor has BAN stated a valid, independent cause of action that would allow the Court to consider BAN’s allegations.

ISRI General Counsel Scott Horne, says, “We are extremely gratified that the Court has granted our Motion to Dismiss and upheld our argument that BAN overreached by filing this lawsuit. “It is unfortunate that, rather than focusing the charitable organization’s scarce resources on properly enforcing its own ‘pledge’ program, which has recently been shown to be ineffective due to violations of its program by its own program participants, BAN chose to waste its limited resources on this frivolous lawsuit.”

The Court has given BAN the opportunity, until January 14, 2011, to file an amended complaint which states an independent cause of action that would have cancellation of the mark as its remedy. If BAN does not amend its complaint by then, the Court will dismiss the entire case and enter judgment for ISRI.  

For more information of the decision, contact ISRI Vice President of Communications Bruce Savage at 202-662-8510 or brucesavage@isri.org.