In today's busy industrial marketplace crowded with numerous products, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between real and rip-off.

Alleging trademark infringement, Baker Hughes Inc. is suing Thor's Oil Products Inc., contending that the North Dakota company is using the Texas oil services giant's trademark-protected brand names for its products used in hydraulic fracturing. Thor's Oil is a North Dakota corporation that only has one employee, according to Lauri Uhryn, who handles affairs for the family business.

Baker Hughes recently filed its case against Thor's Oil in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. The complaint alleges that Baker Hughes owns the U.S. trademark registration issued June 25, 2013, for the mark LITEPROP® for proppants used in oil well and gas well hydraulic fracturing operations. A proppant is a solid material, typically sand, treated sand or human-made ceramic materials, designed to keep an induced hydraulic fracture open, during or following a fracturing treatment.