As the top legal mind at Jacuzzi Group, Jason Weintraub’s main job is to fiercely protect the company’s trademark hot tubs with their signature rounded edges.
So, when co-workers spotted a knockoff of the brand’s most popular tub – the J-300 Collection – at a conference in Europe, they immediately notified him.
“A competitor ripped off the design,” Weintraub told the Business Journal.
Jacuzzi sued the rival company, which Weintraub declined to disclose, in the U.S. and Europe. Litigating in court could have taken three years, he estimates. But his team settled in three months, saving the company thousands in legal costs this year.
“I always say our best results as a company are when our various departments collaborate and work together,” Weintraub said.
Weintraub was honored last year at the Business Journal’s General Counsel Awards for his work in the Private Company category.
In August, he was promoted to chief legal and administrative officer. He handles everything from mergers and acquisitions to trademark infringement.
Under his leadership, Jacuzzi’s infringement detection system was overhauled with third-party software. This year, his actions for protecting the brand have brought the number of cease and desists down from 1,500 to 2,000 per month to 1,100 per month this year.
Nearly all the notices are done autonomously. This year, he implemented artificial intelligence tools to find infringements more efficiently.
The lower cease and desist letters are “good because it means our efforts have been successful, and it is starting to get harder to find misuses of our mark,” he told the Business Journal.
Managed 100 Pending Lawsuits
Weintraub, an Orange County native, developed an interest in law early, participating in mock trials and debate in high school. He earned a political science degree from Stanford University in 1996. Five years later, he earned his J.D. from University of California, Berkeley.
He’s worked at various firms and corporate brands throughout his career, specializing early on in intellectual property issues and contracts.
As the sole attorney at Irvine-based construction company DRI Companies, he managed 100 pending lawsuits and reduced legal expenses by 80%.
In 2009, he joined Broadcom, continuing his cost-cutting strategies. Weintraub then moved to Irvine-based Taco Bell, where he expanded his role to include international business affairs, helping the brand grow globally.
How did he make the jump from fast food to hot tubs?
Such a change isn’t as difficult as one might expect, he said.
“Contracts are contracts and employee issues are employee issues, right?” he said.
“Understanding how to read regulations and interpret what your compliance obligations are – good lawyers can do that whatever industry you’re in. So, I feel as a lawyer, my skills are a bit more easily transferable among industries.”
At Jacuzzi, Weintraub has driven $250 million in revenue through M&A deals, including the acquisition of Vortex Leisure and Baths for Less. The latter purchase marked Jacuzzi’s entry into the bath remodel business.
Jacuzzi Debuts New Hot Tub Innovations
This year, his team’s been busy writing patents for Jacuzzi’s latest innovations, including hot tubs and saunas that use infrared and red-light therapy and a new water purification system.
“This was a real year for innovation for us,” he said.
Jacuzzi True Water is an oxygen nanobubble system that results in water that has up to 50% to 75% less chlorine than drinking water.
The True system is “a revolutionary new way to clean the water in a hot tub,” Weintraub said.
The system, which soft launched in early September, is already garnering huge demand from Jacuzzi dealers.
“We sell almost all of our products to dealers who then sell them on to consumers,” he said.
“Our dealers couldn’t get enough. They sold them as fast as they got them. Consumers are really responding to the look and feel of the water.”
The new product is already earning recognition. In late September, the True system nabbed a 2024 Octane High Tech nomination for the category “Consumer Product Innovation.”
Octane is a Newport Beach accelerator for tech and medtech startups. The nomination underscored how the True system “feels like a game changer in our industry,” Weintraub said.
