Energizer division sues two companies

Playtex Products, a division of Energizer Holdings Inc. of Town and Country, is in legal tussles with a rival maker of tampons and another company that sells sunscreen.

Playtex, which sells Gentle Glide tampons and Banana Boat and Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen, is suing Procter & Gamble Co., claiming the Cincinnatti consumer products giant violated a patent for a tampon applicator with compressed sides for easy holding. P&G is the biggest seller of tampons in the U.S., and Playtex is No. 2.

The complaint was filed April 7 in federal court in Manhattan, according to Bloomberg News, which reported that P&G sued Playtex in February, seeking a court ruling that it can claim in advertisements that P&G’s Pearl tampons work better than Playtex’s Gentle Glide’s.

Playtex is also suing aloe-vera skin-cream maker Fruit of the Earth Inc. for allegedly infringing a U.S. patent for sun-protection lotion.

Playtex argues that Irving, Texas-based Fruit of the Earth is marketing Fruit of the Earth Kids Sunscreen Continuous Spray Lotion in violation of the 2006 patent, and has also copied a Playtex Banana Boat’ bottle design, Bloomberg reported today.  The federal suit was filed yesterday in Wilmington, Delaware.