Category Archives: Indiana

GETGO vs GET 2 GO for Convenience Stores…Are You Confused?

15 Thursday Jul 2021

Posted by in Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Northern District of Indiana, Trademark

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Giant Eagle is the owner of GETGO® convenience stores, with 269 locations, including four (4) stores in Fort Wayne, Indiana that were opened in 2018. Giant Eagle owns several U.S. trademark registrations for GETGO, claiming a date of first use of March 2003 for “Convenience store services, including fuel.”

The Defendants are the owners of three (3) retail convenience stores named GET 2 GO in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Defendants own two U.S. trademark registrations for the GET 2 GO trademark, claiming a date of first use of June 2011. The Plaintiff has contemporaneously filed a Petition for Cancellation (see below) against the Defendants’ registrations.

The Plaintiffs sent communications to Defendants via counsel in February 2020 and April 2021. Per the Complaint (below), “Defendants, through counsel, indicated that they were 􏰇􏰑􏰌􏰙􏰞􏰐􏰔”simply not interested” in a business resolution or in discontinuing the use of the Infringing Marks.”

The Complaint doesn’t mention any instances of actual confusion.

Given the decade-long use of their own trademarks, coexisting peacefully with apparently no instances of consumer confusion, I’m not surprised that the Defendants have opted to stand their ground and not change their name. I’ll be interested to see the affirmative defenses and possibly counterclaims in the Defendants’ Answer. Stay tuned for updates on both the lawsuit and the cancellation proceeding.

Phoenix Intangibles Holding Company et al vs. Virk Brothers, LLC et al

Case Number: 1:21-cv-00263-HAB-SLC
File Date: Friday, July 9, 2021
Plaintiff: Phoenix Intangibles Holding Company, Giant Eagle, Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Anthony M. Eleftheri of Drewry Simmons Vornehm, LLC
Defendant: Virk Brothers, LLC, Charanjit Singh
Cause: Federal Trademark Infringement, Federal Unfair Competition, False Designation of Origin, Common Law Unfair Competition, Common Law Trademark Infringement
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Holly A. Brady
Referred To: Susan L. Collins

Complaint:

Petition for Cancellation:

Author Sued for Copyright Infringement, RICO Violation over Unauthorized Tell-all Book about Deceased Metaphysician

21 Monday Jun 2021

Posted by in Authors, Copyright, Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Southern District of Indiana

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The parties to this copyright lawsuit have a long personal history.

The Plaintiff, Fitzgerald, was the executor of the estate of Frithjof Schuon (“Schuon”), a Swiss metaphysician and author, who died in Bloomington, Indiana in May 1998.

The Defendant, Murray, was a close friend of Schuon and his wife until 1992. From 1992-1995, Murray allegedly made aggressive communications, including threatening letters, to Schuon. Murray repeatedly violated a Protective Order, leading to her incarceration. Murray then filed four lawsuits against the Schuons, two of which were dismissed and two which were settled via a Settlement Agreement that included a confidentiality provision.

Photo by Michael Fitzgerald, CC BY 2.5, No changes made.

After Schuon died in 1998, his wife inherited his right of publicity and copyrights. Those rights were subsequently assigned to Plaintiff World Wisdom, Inc. (“World Wisdom”) in 2003. Mrs. Schuon’s rights under the Settlement Agreement were assigned to Fitzgerald and World Wisdom in 2021. World Wisdom also was assigned rights in Mrs. Schuon’s own right of publicity and copyrights.

In April 2018, Murray published a website that contained many criticisms of Schuon. The website allegedly infringes some of Mrs. Schuon’s copyrighted works and violates the confidentiality provision of the earlier Settlement Agreement. Further, in 2021, Murray published a book, Third Wife of the Muslim Shaykh Frithjof Schuon, that allegedly infringes numerous copyrighted works of Mrs. Schuon. Murray’s publisher, Defendant Beacon Books and Media, discontinued print publication of the book in March 2021 but electronic versions remain available. The Defendants have apparently intimidated that further print versions of the book are forthcoming.

In addition to copyright and breach of contract claims, the Complaint (below) also includes a claim for a RICO violation based on alleged racketeering activity by the Defendants.

Given the long history between the parties and the seemingly contrary position of the Defendants, the Answer should be an interesting read. Stay tuned for updates.

Fitzgerald et al. v. Murray et al.

Case Number: 1:21-cv-01822-TWP-TAB
File Date: Friday, June 18, 2021
Plaintiff: Michael Fitzgerald, World Wisdom, Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Louis T. Perry, Jason M. Rauch, Elizabeth A. Charles of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Defendant: Maude Murray, Beacon Books and Media, LTD
Cause: Civil RICO, Copyright Infringement, Right of Publicity, Breach of Contract, Intentional Interference with Contractual Relations
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Tanya Walton Pratt
Referred To: Tim A. Baker

Complaint:

Mailbox Drone Manufacturer Invites Copyright Infringement Lawsuit by Stealing Product Photographs from Competitor

17 Thursday Jun 2021

Posted by in Copyright, Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Southern District of Indiana

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The Plaintiff in this lawsuit is an Illinois-based manufacturer of smart mailboxes and customized mail delivery drones.

Unfortunately, this copyright infringement lawsuit doesn’t involve the very interesting mailbox and drone technology but instead focuses on two photographs of Plaintiff’s product. The Defendants, a competing drone mailbox company from Indianapolis, allegedly copied the product photographs, make slight modifications to remove Plaintiff’s identifiers, and included the altered photographs in its own presentation materials, including at a major industry trade show.

Reviewing the images included in the Complaint (below), it certainly seems like these are fairly blatant, and slightly ridiculous, instances of copyright infringement. The Complaint also alleges several other claims based on the Defendants’ alleged attempts to “unfairly advance and promote the commercial identity, status and reputation of the Defendant Companies, to solicit the sale of their products and services to customers and potential customers, and to solicit investors, potential investors and partners, in competition with Plaintiff.”

I’m looking forward to the Defendants’ Answer and their possible explanation for the use of the altered photographs. Stay tuned for updates.

Valqari LLC v. Dronedek Corporation et al.

Case Number: 1:21-cv-01754-JMS-MJD
File Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Plaintiff: Valqari LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Deborah Pollack-Milgate, E. Sahara Williams of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, Louis J. Alex of Cook Alex Ltd.
Defendant: Dronedek Corporation, Dronedek LLC, Daniel O’Toole
Cause: Copyright Infringement, False Advertising, False Representations, False Designations of Origin, Reverse Passing Off, Unfair Competition, State Unfair Competition
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Jane Magnus-Stinson
Referred To: Mark J. Dinsmore

Complaint:

Mid-June Indiana Intellectual Property Litigation Update

15 Tuesday Jun 2021

Posted by in Copyright, Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Northern District of Indiana, Southern District of Indiana, Trademark

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It was a busy month for new filings but no big updates in previously filed cases.

Noble Romans, Inc. v. Gateway Triangle Corp. et al. (SD, filed 2/5/2021) – There has been an extension of forty-five days for the parties’ initial discovery deadlines. Nothing else to report.

Heartland Consumer Products LLC v. Speedway, LLC (SD, filed 2/5/2021) – Nothing to report.

Watch Communications v. Jarman et al. (SD, filed 3/8/2021)- A pretrial conference was held on May 17, 2021. An Amended Complaint was filed on June 4, 2021 and an Answer to Third Party Counterclaims was filed on June 9, 2021.

La Michoacana Meat Market TM Holdings, LLC v. Lopez et al. (SD, filed 3/9/2021) – No update yet.

La Michoacana Meat Market TM Holdings, LLC v. Galan et al. (ND, filed 3/9/2021) – On June 14, 2021, Attorney Kevin E. Steele filed an appearance on behalf of all defendants and requested an extension of time to file an answer.

Vroom, Inc. v. Midwest Motors LLC et al. (SD, filed 3/24/2021) – A pretrial conference was held on June 4, 2021. The Defendants failed to appear. Defendants have until June 18, 2021 to show cause why sanctions should not issue for their failure to appear.

Delta Faucet Company v. Iakovlev et al. (SD, filed 3/25/2021) – On June 2, 2021, Delta filed a motion to take discovery from Amazon.com. The motion was granted on June 4, 2021.

ABI Attachments, Inc. v. Kiser Arena Specialists, Inc. et al. (SD, filed 4/12/2021) – A pretrial conference was held on June 3, 2021. A response to the Complaint is due by June 17, 2021.

Triple LLL Truck Repair, Inc. v. Triple LLL, Inc. et al. (ND, filed 4/26/2021) – No update yet.

Energy Beverages LLC v. Full Throttle Automotive LLC (SD, filed 5/19/2021) – The Defendants have received an extension of time to answer the Complaint until July 7, 2021.

Monster Energy Company v. R&R Medical, LLC d/b/a Bear KompleX (ND, filed 5/26/2021) – No update yet.

Egglife Foods, Inc. v. Crepini, LLC (ND, filed 5/28/2021) – No update yet.

Gatewood v. Webber Chappelle (ND, filed 6/4/2021) – No update yet.

Sears Authorized Hometown Stores, LLC v. Lynn Retails, Inc. et al. (SD, filed 6/4/2021) – No update yet.

Noble Roman’s, Inc. v. AMI Stores Management, Inc. et al. (SD, filed 6/6/2021) – No update yet.

May 2021 Updates

April 2021 Updates

Noble Roman’s sues Ex-Franchisee for Unpaid Royalties, Underreported Sales Figures

09 Wednesday Jun 2021

Posted by in Business Law, Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Southern District of Indiana

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Noble Roman’s is becoming a regular on this blog. It begs the question, why do they have so many intellectual property problems? Rather than dumping piles of money into back-end enforcement, perhaps they should spend more time on front-end due diligence and avoid many of these problems altogether. Given that most/all of the lawsuits involve ex-franchisees, perhaps Noble Roman’s should re-examine their franchise agreement or franchisee selection process. At least this lawsuit leaves out the ridiculous abandoned theft and conversion claims from their previous complaints.

As with most of their previous lawsuits, Noble Roman’s is suing a prior franchisee for breach of their franchise agreement. Here, the Defendants, with gas station locations in Florida and Georgia, have allegedly not paid the required royalty, underreported sales figures, failed to make available all Noble Roman’s menu items, failed to maintain required business hours, and sold non-Noble Roman’s food offerings.

The Complaint was originally filed in Marion County Superior Circuit Court for Marion County, Indiana but Defendants’ counsel has filed a Notice of Removal to the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Defendants’ counsel is Donald E. Pinaud, Jr. of Jacksonville, Florida.

Stay tuned for updates.

Noble’s Roman’s, Inc. v. AMI Stores Management, Inc. et al.

Case Number: 1:21-cv-01539-RLY-TAB
File Date: Sunday, June 6, 2021
Plaintiff: Noble Roman’s, Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Jaime L. Meyer, Jeffrey D. Roberts of Hollingsworth Roberts Means LLC
Defendant: AMI Stores Management, Inc., AMI 57 LLC d/b/a AMI 70 Food Mart, AMI 63 LLC d/b/a AMI 63 Food Mart
Cause: Breach of Franchise Agreement, Trademark Infringement
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Richard L. Young
Referred To: Tim A. Baker

Complaint: