Martha Stewart is getting under the skin of a Northbrook-based company.

JAB Distributors LLC , which markets patented mattress products under its Protect-a-Bed name, on Thursday filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. over a bedbug-fighting product.

JAB said it owns a 2009 patent titled “Mattress Encasement for Preventing Bed Bug Escapement Via a Zipper Opening” and makes products that incorporate the invention.

Typically, a bedbug leaves the mattress at night, bites the victim, and returns to the mattress, explains a copy of the patent, which was included as an exhibit in the lawsuit.

“Martha Stewart Living has been and is now infringing” on the patent, including through the Martha Stewart Collection Allergy Wise Mattress Protector.

Martha Stewart Living couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.

Listed as one of the inventors on the patent is James Bell, chief executive of Protect-a-Bed. Its Web site says that it’s celebrating its 30-year anniversary and has been enjoying double-digit growth rates.

JAB is asking a U.S. District Court in Chicago to order Martha Stewart Living to stop infringing on the patent and to pay unspecified damages.

byerak@tribune.com