23 results for 'cat:"Trademark" AND cat:"Business Practices"'.
J. Rosenthal finds that a law firm’s claims over a lawyer referral service’s practice of diverting the law firm’s prospective clients toward the referral service by purchasing the law firm’s business name and other business marks on the Google search engine can proceed against the referral service but not against an individual employee of the service. The law firm has not provided sufficient evidence of the employee’s personal involvement. A motion to dismiss the claims against the individual employee is granted without prejudice and the law firm is granted leave to amend its complaint.
Court: USDC Southern District of Texas, Judge: Rosenthal, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 4:23cv4643, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Tort, trademark, business Practices
J. Dorsey denies the fruit and vegetable supplement manufacturer's motion for a preliminary injunction halting the sale of a company's supplements. The manufacturer accuses the company of copying its trade dress and seeks relief for violations of Nevada common law. Though Nevada has not recognized a common law trade-dress claim or articulated a standard, analysis under the federal Lanham Act reveals little likelihood of success on the claims. The labels are not particularly similar, and selling such supplements as a set and placing a brand name on the top center of a bottle is not unique.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Dorsey , Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv2051, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Commerce, trademark, business Practices
J. Hunt grants the defendant Chinese e-commerce platform’s motion to dismiss a trademark complaint brought by the plaintiff Chinese fitness equipment manufacturer. The equipment manufacturer owns the trademark for “FitBeast,” displayed on its grip strengtheners, and claims the defendant has helped counterfeiters sell knock-off FitBeast products on its platform. The court finds the plaintiff has not sufficiently alleged these claims.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Hunt, Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv2793, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Commerce, trademark, business Practices
J. Chen dismisses, on jurisdictional grounds, all but two defendants in a case regarding the business operations of a startup investment firm and subsequently compels the parties to arbitration solely to determine whether the remaining claims are subject to arbitration. The case involves allegations that the co-owner in a startup investment firm created without his partner’s knowledge a separate firm under a similar name and siphoned off management fees, depriving the litigant of his 50% stake in the company.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Chen, Filed On: March 30, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv906, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Arbitration, trademark, business Practices
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J. Reeves partly grants an honor society’s motion to dismiss counterclaims of defamation and misleading representation filed by a Nevada corporation, claiming they are intentionally misleading students with having similar trademarks. The defamation counterclaim regarding the challenged statements in a press release is dismissed, as well as the tortious interference counterclaim.
Court: USDC Southern District of Mississippi , Judge: Reeves, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv208, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: trademark, Defamation, business Practices
J. Beetlestone grants in part Rite Aid’s motion to seal certain portions of the summary judgment record in this trademark dispute with a font maker who alleges the pharmacy used one of its typefaces, Neutraface, in its multi-million dollar corporate rebrand without the maker’s permission. It is reasonable to redact some of RiteAid’s proprietary financial data that was used to weigh this case.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge: Beetlestone, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1174, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Evidence, trademark, business Practices
J. Wood denies a Chinese e-commerce platform Wanfan’s motion to dismiss an underlying trademark suit brought against it by an Australian toy company. The Australian company claims in the underlying suit that the Chinese platform sold multicolored cubes, infringing the Australian company’s own trademarked, multicolored cube toys. Wanfan calls the suit “frivolous” and seeks dismissal based on lack of personal jurisdiction, improper venue and insufficient service of process. The court disagrees on all fronts, finding Wanfan was properly served, that it has no basis to argue over venue, and that the Australian company “has had sufficient contacts with the United States to support personal jurisdiction over [the Chinese platform’s] federal claims.”
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Wood, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv2330, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: International Law, trademark, business Practices
J. Cole partially grants the plaintiff financial services company’s motion to compel the defendant credit union to produce five categories of documents. This case concerns the financial services company’s “M1” logo and whether the credit union’s “M1st” logo is in breach of trademark. The services company wants access to the credit union’s merit marketing materials, brand guidelines, third-party mark use agreements, 2003 charter amendments and materials from prior litigation. The court orders the credit union to produce specific documents from these categories, but also orders the financial services company to clarify its demands regarding other documents.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Cole, Filed On: January 17, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv1162, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: trademark, business Practices, Discovery
J. Pulliam denies a produce company’s motion to dismiss a suit for failure to state a claim after it was sued by a competitor alleging that the produce company was using its trademarked package design — namely, a “two-piece plastic container consisting of a solid yellow opaque base or lid with a clear transparent dome.” The produce company argues that “consumer confusion is implausible” because of differences in packaging, but it is “similarities between the packaging, not differences, [that] cause customer confusion.”
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Pulliam, Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 5:23cv445, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Tort, trademark, business Practices
J. Watson dismisses the suing skydiving company’s complaint that the skydiving companies it’s suing are infringing on its trademark by using the term “skydive Hawaii” and similar phrasing in their advertisements and websites. Usage of these phrases is fair use, as the words are fairly common and are obvious descriptions of the companies’ services and location, not a distinctive mark.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Watson, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv292, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: trademark, business Practices
J. Mahan grants the health supplement company's motion to dismiss this trade dress infringement suit brought on allegations that it sells supplements packaged similarly to the other supplement company's product in an effort to capitalize on its “popularity.” The other supplement company fails to establish priority of use. It does not allege when its trade dress allegedly became famous, and there are no allegations that it was so before defendant allegedly began infringing and diluting it.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Mahan , Filed On: September 5, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv186, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: trademark, business Practices
J. Higginson finds the district court properly granted Whirlpool’s motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the sale of allegedly infringing “stand mixers” from being marketed online by the electrical technology company pending the outcome of its suit alleging trademark infringement and dilution, trade dress infringement, and unfair competition. Certain questions as to similarity of visual design and conspicuousness of branding regarding the likelihood of confusion are not enough to find clear error in the court’s decision. Arguments as to the threat of irreparable injury, the balance of harms and the public interest all weigh in Whirlpool’s favor. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Higginson, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: 22-40376, Categories: trademark, business Practices, Injunction
J. Saylor grants a marketing and design studio and its founder’s motion for summary judgment against the fitness studio suing them for having a trademark, logo and website it claims are too similar to its own. The fitness studio’s logo and trademark are not inherently distinctive and it is unlikely that they and the marketing and design studio would be confused with each other, as they are in such different industries.
Court: USDC Massachusetts, Judge: Saylor, Filed On: August 11, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv11763, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, trademark, business Practices
J. Valderrama grants fast-fashion retailer Shein’s motion for a temporary restraining order against Temu, a Chinese online retailer, finding Shein company has reasonably alleged that it is being harmed by the retailer’s use of marks that mimics the “SHEIN” brand.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Valderrama, Filed On: July 31, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv7119, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, trademark, business Practices
J. McShane dismisses the business partner's unfair competition counterclaim that the boba tea shop owner breached his duty of loyalty when he opened another store about five miles away from the business partner's shop, thus harming the latter's business. The boba tea shop owner's son is the registered owner and has no duty of loyalty, and the business partner does not present facts supporting the argument that the boba tea shop owner acted as an agent of both businesses with conflicting interests.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: McShane, Filed On: June 12, 2023, Case #: 6:22cv1488, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: trademark, Unfair Competition, business Practices
J. Rowland partially grants the defendant machine shop’s motion for summary judgment while denying the plaintiff machine shop’s cross-motion for summary judgment in this case over military-compliant fasteners. The plaintiff shop claims the defendant shop violated trademark laws by buying plaintiff’s fasteners, altering them and selling them to its customers as compliant with military specifications. The court grants the defendant shop’s claim for summary judgement as to the “word marks,” i.e., the plaintiff shops’ brand identifiers, which are present on the defendant’s fasteners, as the plaintiff has not sufficiently explained why those marks cannot appear on the fasteners when they are meant for military and not commercial use. All other claims from all parties survive.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: May 15, 2023, Case #: 1:18cv6670, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Commerce, trademark, business Practices