675,000 Pages, a Dozen Witnesses, and Two Months Later, a Decision on Toilet Paper Design Lawsuit

“Toilet paper. This case is about toilet paper. Are there many other things most people use every day but think very little about? We doubt it.” Such was the introduction to 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals‘ Judge Terence Evans‘ ruling (pdf) in a design-based intellectual property lawsuit filed by Georgia-Pacific (owner of the Quilted Northern brand) against Kimberly-Clark (owner of Cottonelle and Scott) over alleged toilet paper design theft. The former accused the later of stealing its trademarked “diamond quilted” design, which launched a suit wherein, as