ATC Media met with Michaels executives in late 2020 to discuss a possible business agreement under which ATC could give customers an affiliate code to purchase frames for their pictures. During that meeting, Harper said, both parties were subject to a nondisclosure agreement, and ATC shared significant confidential information about its business, such as its marketing tactics.
In late 2021, Michaels began selling a competing product with confusingly similar branding, he said. ATC Media saw its sales drop drastically, Harper said, and launched the suit after finding out about the competing product.
But just because Michaels was selling a paint-by-number kit that had similar branding doesn’t mean that the arts and crafts store stole trade secrets or ripped off ATC’s marks, said Jamil Alibhai with Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr PC, representing Michaels Stores. Details matter in this case, he said, and Michaels was already planning on releasing a paint-by-number kit with the word “masterpiece” well before the meeting with ATC media took place.
