This page presents public court records from Gonza LLC v. Mission Competition Fitness Equipment LLC, W.D. Tex. Case No. 6:21-cv-00771.
What happened, in plain language
Gonza LLC — the Leesburg, Virginia company that makes the Neck Flex® — filed suit on July 28, 2021 in the Waco Division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleging that the Iron Neck Alpha Harness, sold by Mission Competition Fitness Equipment LLC, infringed U.S. Patent No. 11,007,405 — the original Neck Flex patent.
Gonza moved for a preliminary injunction on October 29, 2021. Mission Competition responded on November 11. The court held a hearing on November 12. On December 1, 2021, Judge Alan D. Albright granted the motion — an order courts describe as an "extraordinary remedy," granted here before trial.
What the court ordered
From the order's conclusion (page 18):
"IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Mission Competition Fitness Equipment LLC is hereby enjoined, pending a final determination on the merits, from promoting, marketing, advertising, selling, and offering for sale the Iron Neck Alpha Harness."
The court analyzed the four factors required for a preliminary injunction in the Fifth Circuit — likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm, balance of hardships, and the public interest — and found all four favored Gonza. Noting the observation in the record that the Iron Neck Alpha was the same as the Neck Flex "apparently even down to the stitching pattern" (Order at 12), the court wrote that "it comes as no surprise that a consumer would purchase the much lower priced option."
As required by Rule 65(c), Gonza posted the $25,000 bond set by the court, making the injunction effective.
Read the order yourself
Download the full Order Granting Preliminary Injunction (PDF, 19 pages) — Case 6:21-cv-00771-ADA, Document 17, filed December 1, 2021, signed by U.S. District Judge Alan D. Albright.
Independent coverage
The ruling was reported by Bloomberg Law, Law360, and IPWatchdog, which noted how rare merits-based preliminary injunctions are in patent cases.
What happened afterward
After the injunction, the Alpha Harness was redesigned: the patented vertical power strap disappeared from the design. In May 2023, Gonza filed a second suit (W.D. Tex. Case No. 6:23-cv-00395) asserting two additional patents (US 11,638,850 and US 11,638,851); during that litigation, the Alpha's D-ring orientation changed as well. The case was resolved in March 2024 by agreement of the parties.
For the full picture of how the two products compare today — including what those design changes mean functionally — see our complete comparison: Neck Flex vs. Iron Neck (2026): The Complete Comparison.
Neck Flex® is a registered trademark of Gonza LLC, Leesburg, Virginia. Nothing on this page is legal advice; all characterizations are drawn from the public court record, which is linked above.
Further reading
The patent history of neck training equipment runs much deeper than this dispute — eighteen patents for purpose-built neck apparatus between 1891 and 1970, plus the modern filings on both sides of this case, are catalogued with the inventors’ own stated reasoning at necktraining.com/devices/patents.
