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H-E-B has accused Chinese entities of infringing on patents related to its line of Kodi coolers.

H-E-B alleges in a new lawsuit that numerous brands are selling coolers - made by Kuer - that infringe on the grocer’s patents. A Kuer cooler is pictured above a Brig Frig cooler, which H-E-B cites in its lawsuit.

H-E-B alleges in a new lawsuit that numerous brands are selling coolers - made by Kuer - that infringe on the grocer’s patents. Among those mentioned in H-E-B’s lawsuit was a cooler with the brand name Pierce Arrow.

For the second time in three years, H-E-B is going after after three Chinese partnerships that the grocer says has infringed on its line of Kodi coolers.

In a federal lawsuit, H-E-B accuses the partnerships of “supplying infringing coolers to a host of other companies in the market” by “funneling them through a different entity.”

The San Antonio company’s suit was filed under seal earlier this month in Waco, while a publicly available version is heavily redacted. Even H-E-B’s motion asking that the complaint be filed under seal is inaccessible to the public.

H-E-B seeks the award of various unspecified financial damages, including special and punitive damages, as well as a court order that bars the partnerships from manufacturing and supplying any products that it alleges infringe on its coolers.

Named in the action are Ningbo Kuer Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Ningbo Kuer Kayak Co. Ltd. and Ningbo Kuer Outdoor Products Co. Ltd., all based in China. Collectively referred to in the complaint as Kuer, the trio also was named in a 2020 lawsuit filed by H-E-B.

On ExpressNews.com: H-E-B loses its cool over competing coolers

The “marketplace is filled with Kuer’s infringing products, hidden behind other brand names, which will require inordinate amounts of time and money to track down,” H-E-B alleges.

The new complaint also names Ningbo Huanhai Marine Supplies Co., which was not a party in the earlier suit.

The 2020 lawsuit related to the partnerships’ Kuer brand coolers and the nICE brand cooler, which they allegedly manufactured for Georgia’s Southern Sales & Marketing Group Inc.

Also named in the 2020 suit are Home Depot over its Everbilt coolers.

Less than eight months after H-E-B sued, the grocer and the partnerships informed the Waco federal court that they had settled their dispute in a joint stipulation for dismissal.

At the crux of the 2020 complaint was a patented pressure-release button on the exterior of H-E-B’s Kodi coolers. Depressing the button releases pressure inside the coolers, making it easier to open the lid.

The Kuer, nICE and Everbilt coolers utilized a similar pressure-release button, sparking allegations by H-E-B that they infringed on four patents it holds.

During the course of the 2020 litigation, “Kuer expressed a willingness to forgo selling coolers with a pressure release valve,” H-E-B says in the latest lawsuit. The following 35 paragraphs of the complaint are redacted before H-E-B mentions that Kuer was released from the complaint after the stipulation of dismissal.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio’s H-E-B settles patent-infringement claims over its Kodi coolers

It appears H-E-B became concerned again about alleged infringement by Kuer in late 2021. H-E-B’s lawyers reached out to attorneys who represented Kuer in the 2020 litigation.

One of the Kuer lawyers, Jason Xu, said Kuer disagreed with H-E-B and indicated in March 2022 that “no infringing products had been sold or distributed in the United States.”

Xu subsequently informed H-E-B’s counsel that he no longer represents Kuer. He didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Following the 2020 litigation, H-E-B says in its latest complaint, the company found that a “wide assortment of brands were utilizing the pressure release technology embodied in the patents.”

Many of the brands were selling coolers that looked “eerily similar to one another, including the same design, features and overall functionality,” H-E-B says.

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It cites coolers with such names as Big Frig, Frosted Frog and Pierce Arrow. Each infringes on its patents, H-E-B says.

It sent cease-and-desist letters to the companies it said were selling the coolers.

“As H-E-B began to hear back from these companies, however, H-E-B learned that they were procuring the infringing coolers from Kuer,” the grocer says.

H-E-B says it suspects Kuer has been “supplying infringing coolers to a host of other companies.” H-E-B said it learned in October that Kuer was “funneling” coolers to customers through a “different entity.”

An H-E-B spokeswoman declined to comment.

Patrick Danner is a business reporter for the San Antonio Express-News.