Backyard brawl.

• Author: Mildenberg, David
• Position: NC TREND: Triangle Region

It isn't just liberals who can attest to the difficulty of challenging Raleigh businessman Art Pope, an influential conservative kingmaker. Add Wal-Mart Stores to the list.

In November, a federal judge in Raleigh ordered the world's largest retailer to pay $32.5 million to Pope's Variety Wholesalers for infringing its "Backyard" trademark. Henderson-based Roses, which Variety bought in 1997 ("Faded Roses blossom," October), started using the name on grills and lawn and garden equipment several years earlier, Pope says.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle reached the amount--considered a "disgorgement of profits"--by subtracting sales of Wal-Mart's Backyard-branded products from estimated costs in states where both companies operate. "This was a deliberate choice by Wal-Mart and was done over repeated warnings from its own legal counsel," the judge wrote.

Boyle had ruled in Variety's favor on the case in 2015 and then took nearly a year to determine the monetary damage. In his initial ruling, he called Wal-Mart "a larger company with deeper pockets for litigation." Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart operates more...