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On Thursday, March 12, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida granted Hackforth Holding GMBH & Co. KG (“Hackforth”)’s motion to dismiss in connection with a trademark dispute over the alleged use of the term RotaChock. U.S. District Judge William F. Jung ruled that the plaintiff Machinery Mounting Solutions, Inc. (“MMS”) “failed to properly allege that the Court has either general or specific personal jurisdiction over Defendant Hackforth.”1
Haug Partners represents Hackforth in the matter, as well as Hackforth’s wholly owned subsidiary American VULKAN Corporation (“American VULKAN”). American VULKAN was also dismissed from the suit on the grounds that the complaint was an improper “shotgun pleading.”2
Haug Partners, on behalf of Hackforth, successful argued that the Court could not establish jurisdiction over Hackforth merely because its subsidiary, American VULKAN, is located in Florida. The Court rejected plaintiff MMS’s argument that American VULKAN acted as Hackforth’s agent for jurisdictional purposes, finding that Hackforth did not “exert operational control over the internal day-to-day affairs” of American VULKAN, Hackforth and American VULKAN have “separate and independent responsibilities,” maintain separate accounting books and records,” “file taxes separately,” and American VULKAN “merely provides monthly financial and sales reports to Hackforth.”3
Haug Partners also successfully argued that defendant Hackforth was not subject to specific jurisdiction in Florida by “simply having a website that can be accessed in Florida.”4 Further, Hackforth could not have committed any tortious actions within Florida,5 as MMS attempted to argue, because “injury from trademark infringement occurs in the state where the trademark owner resides.”6 The Court therefore dismissed the complaint. The Haug Partners team was led by Ben Natter and Michael Barer. Elana Faniel and Elle Slattery of Taylor Nelson Slattery Bernard PL joined Haug Partners in representing the defendants.