Here are some quick updates on the IP litigation filed in Indiana so far in 2021. The amount of filings are still far below pre-pandemic numbers, but there are a few interesting cases to follow.
Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. v. Sullivan (SD, 1/18/2021) – The parties have agreed to a 28-day extension (until March 10, 2021) for Defendant to respond. This is often an indication that settlement talks are taking place.
Schnebelt v. Anglotopia, LLC (ND, filed 1/18/2021) – The Defendant filed an Answer as pro se on 2/11/2021, but the Answer was struck by the Court one day later, as limited liability companies (which the Defendant is) must be represented by counsel.
The Plaintiff in this action for declaratory judgment of non-infringement is a yet-to-open rock climbing gym in Indianapolis, Indiana. More specifically, the planned gym will provide a venue for “bouldering,” a type of rock climbing low enough to the ground to be done without safety ropes.
The Defendants operate similar “bouldering” facilities in Washington (State), Texas, and Minneapolis. As admitted in the Complaint (see Complaint, Section 10, below), “For a brief period of time in late 2020, one of Plaintiff’s members used content from one of Defendant’s websites as placeholder text during the website design process. This text was removed after two weeks of being publically available, and has been replaced by Plaintiff’s current website: https://www.northmassboulder.com/.”
The Defendants contacted the Plaintiff via counsel in December 2020, at which time the “infringing” content was removed from Plaintiff’s website. Nonetheless, dialogue between the parties’ counsel was apparently unproductive and it became clear that Defendants were going to sue Plaintiff. As such, the Indianapolis-based Plaintiff seized the initiative and filed a declaratory judgment action to prove their lack of infringement.
Declaratory judgment actions are always interesting as they flip the usual filing paradigm (i.e. the infringed filing against the infringer). There is an admitted temporary use by Plaintiff of some of the Defendant’s online content but other issues like trade dress and trade secrets are raised in the Complaint and will be interesting to follow to resolution. Stay tuned for updates.
Indianapolis Bouldering, LLC v. BP Holdings Company, LLC et al.
Court Case Number: 1:21-cv-00344-JMS-JMD File Date: February 11, 2021 Plaintiff: Indianapolis Bouldering, LLC Plaintiff Counsel: Jonathan G. Polak, Steven T. Henke of TAFT STETTINIUS & HOLLISTER LLP Defendant: BP Holdings Company, LLC, Seattle Bouldering Project, LLC, Minneapolis Bouldering Project, LLC, and Austin Bouldering Project, LLC Cause: Invalidity or Unenforceability of Intellectual Property Rights, Non-Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights, Non-Violation of Alleged Trade Secrets Court: Southern District of Indiana Judge: Jane Magnus-Stinson Referred To: Mark J. Dinsmore
Famous (infamous) plaintiff’s lawyer Richard Liebowitz has filed another copyright lawsuit in Indiana over the unauthorized use of a photograph of Murlough Bay in Northern Ireland. The photograph has been removed from the Defendant’s website, http://www.anglotopia.net, but the Defendant was apparently not willing to meet Liebowitz’s customary settlement demands and thus a lawsuit was filed.
With a Complaint filed, it’s usual for the Defendant in these cases to weigh the costs/benefits of proceeding and likely choose to settle for a slightly higher amount than pre-Complaint. However, we’ll keep a close eye on this lawsuit to see whether Defendant has a viable defense strategy or whether they are just biding time until the eventual settlement.
Scnhebelt v. Anglotopia, LLC
Court Case Number: 3:21-cv-00040-JD-MGG File Date: January 18, 2021 Plaintiff: Stefan Schnebelt Plaintiff Counsel: Richard Liebowitz of Liebowitz Law Firm, PLLC Defendant: Anglotopia, LLC Cause: Copyright Infringement, Integrity of Copyright Management Information Court: Northern District of Indiana Judge: Jon E. DeGuilio Referred To: Michael G Gotsch, Sr.
The Defendant in this copyright infringement lawsuit is alleged to have used Plaintiff’s photograph of “a leaf in water” without authorization. The Plaintiff is a German professional photographer and the Defendant is a corporation based in Elkhart, Indiana.
Stay tuned for updates.
Steeger v. Good Living Enterprises Inc.
Court Case Number: 3:19-cv-00877-PPS-MGG File Date: October 5, 2019 Plaintiff: Paul Steiger Plaintiff Counsel: Richard P. Liebowitz of Liebowitz Law Firm, PLLC Defendant: Good Living Enterprises Inc. Cause: Copyright Infringement Court: Northern District of Indiana Judge: Philip P. Simon Referred To: Michael G. Gotsch, Sr.
In this copyright lawsuit from the Northern District of Indiana, a custom airbrushing company is suing a graphic design company for unauthorized use of two designs.
The Plaintiff’s designs are applied to boats, recreational vehicles, airplanes, automobiles, and helicopters.
Defendant is alleged to have applied the infringing designs on boats and motors for sale to a customer.
The Art of Design, Inc. v. Sharpline Converting, Inc.
Court Case Number: 3:19-cv-00702-JD-MGG File Date: Friday, August 30, 2019 Plaintiff: The Art of Design, Inc. Plaintiff Counsel: John D. LaDue, Sean J. Quinn of SouthBank Legal: LaDue | Curran | Kuehn Defendant: Sharpline Converting, Inc.
Cause: Copyright Infringement, Inducing Copyright Infringement Court: Northern District of Indiana Judge: Jon E. DeGuilio Referred To: Michael G. Gotsch, Sr.
Indiana Intellectual Property Blog 