The defendant in the latest Indiana copyright lawsuit is a Lafayette,Indiana-based roofing company alleged to have shared a video showing the tornado damage from the town of Sullivan, Indiana on its company Facebook page. The plaintiff is a professional videographer from Colorado.
Companies, go delete old social media posts that include any content that you don’t own or have well-documented permission to use and share. As we’re seeing, old posts can carry a legal risk, so if they are no longer providing a marketing benefit, consider deletion.
Stay tuned for updates.
Rigsby v. All Seasons Roofing
Court Case Number: 4:24-cv-00023-PPS-JEM File Date: March 14, 2024 Plaintiff: Aaron Rigsby Plaintiff Counsel: Craig Sanders, Esq. of Sanders Law Group Defendant: John W. Darnell, Inc. d/b/a All Seasons Roofing Cause: Direct Copyright Infringement Court: Northern District of Indiana Judge: Philip P. Simon Referred To: John E. Martin
Since 2016, the Plaintiff in this trademark lawsuit, NuStar Enterprises of Elkhart, Indiana, has used the registered trademark RELOADED in connection with “clothing and apparel, namely, shirts, jackets, pants, hats, belts, scarves, gloves, socks, underwear, swimwear, and wristbands.” They also have pending applications for sandals, slippers, sneakers, athletic shoes, and tactical vests, as well as hookah pipes and related smoking accessories.
In July 2019, NuStar learned that Bill Omar Carrasquillo, a rapper and YouTube celebrity known as “Omi in a Hellcat,” intended to start an apparel company under the brand name RELOADED. NuStar reached out to Mr. Carrasquillo’s agent about its prior trademark rights and the parties attempted to negotiate a licensing agreement. Those negotiations fell apart in late 2019 “due to Mr. Carrasquillo’s legal and financial troubles.”
Despite knowledge of the Plaintiff’s trademark, the Defendants went forward with plans to launch an apparel company called Reloaded Merch in mid-2021. The Complaint (below) references instances of actual consumer confusion, including a notice of violation received by Plaintiff from Amazon.com because their products were not made by the Defendant. The Plaintiff’s products were even taken off of the Amazon marketplace in favor of the Defendants’ products. Due to the Defendants’ popularity, this truly seems to be a situation where the Plaintiff has lost the ability to control its brand identity, lost control over its goodwill and reputation, and has lost the ability to move into new products and markets.
Stay tuned for updates.
NuStar Enterprises LLC v. Reloaded Merch LLC, Bill Omar Carrasquillo
Case Number: 2:22-cv-00080 File Date: April 1, 2022 Plaintiff: NuStar Enterprises LLC Plaintiff Counsel: Andrew M. Hicks of Warrick & Boyn, LLP Defendant: Reloaded Merch LLC, Bill Omar Carrasquillo Cause: Federal Trademark Infringement, Federal Unfair Competition, State Trademark Infringement, State Unfair Competition Court: Northern District of Indiana Judge: Philip P. Simon Referred To: John E. Martin
The plaintiff in this copyright lawsuit is a professional photographer who has taken several photographs of Indiana Pacers’ Lance Stephenson, including photographs of Stephenson winning the 2008 Public School Athletic League as a high-schooler with Abraham Lincoln High School in Coney Island, New York.
Stephenson allegedly posted several of the plaintiff’s photographs on his Instagram account, stephensonlance, without authorization from the plaintiff. Most of the postings were apparently posted in Stephenson’s “Instagram Stories,” which disappear after 24 hours.
Lance Stephenson isn’t the first public figure to be sued for posting unowned photos of themself on social media. Being the subject of a photograph does not grant you copyright ownership of that photograph. Copyright ownership is held by the photographer, who can thus control how the photograph is publicly displayed. These types of lawsuits are typically settled out-of-court, but obviously not in this instance, although the Complaint (below) makes no mention of attempted settlement negotiations. Nevertheless, settlement usually follows shortly after a complaint is filed, although usually at a higher settlement amount.
Stay tuned for updates.
Reid v. Stephenson
Case Number: 1:22-cv-00205-JRS-DLP File Date: January 27, 2022 Plaintiff: Damion Reid Plaintiff Counsel: Craig B. Sanders of Sanders Law Group Defendant: Lance Stephenson Cause: Direct Copyright Infringement Court: Southern District of Indiana Judge: James R. Sweeney II Referred To: Doris L. Pryor
Plaintiff is a concert photographer. He posted photographs (of Willie Nelson and Chris Daughtry) to Wikimedia under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Generic license. The defendants have all allegedly used Plaintiff’s photograph(s) on their respective websites without giving proper credit to Plaintiff. Plaintiff is representing himself in these lawsuits and has filed similar complaints previously (Related Cases).
Court Case Number: 1:14-cv-01357-TWP-DML File Date: Monday, August 18, 2014 Plaintiff: Larry G. Philpot Plaintiff Counsel: Larry G. Philpot – Pro Se Defendant: Mansion America, LLC, Oak Ridge Boys Theater Cause: Copyright Infringement, Unfair Competition Court: Southern District of Indiana Judge: Judge Tanya Walton Pratt Referred To: Magistrate Judge Debra McVicker Lynch
Court Case Number: 1:14-cv-01356-SEB-DML File Date: Monday, August 18, 2014 Plaintiff: Larry G. Philpot Plaintiff Counsel: Larry G. Philpot – Pro Se Defendant: Bake Me A Wish, LLC Cause: Copyright Infringement Court: Southern District of Indiana Judge: Judge Sarah Evans Barker Referred To: Magistrate Judge Debra McVicker Lynch
Court Case Number: 1:14-cv-01377-LJM-MJD File Date: Thursday, August 21, 2014 Plaintiff: Larry G. Philpot Plaintiff Counsel: Larry G. Philpot – Pro Se Defendant: Everything Brooklyn Media LLC Cause: Copyright Infringement Court: Southern District of Indiana Judge: Judge Larry J. McKinney Referred To: Magistrate Judge Mark J. Dinsmore
Plaintiff, James Dean Inc., wants the @JamesDean Twitter handle. Somebody else has been using the Twitter handle since 2009 as a fan account for the Fairmount, Indiana-raised rebel movie icon. The @JamesDean account has more than 8,200 followers and has sent over 2,200 tweets. CMG Worldwide, the exclusive licensee of James Dean’s name and likeness, unable to convince Twitter to hand over the account, are now suing Twitter directly in federal court to force compliance. Twitter looks set to put up a full defense rather than subject themselves to an onslaught of username complaints.
Stay tuned for what will likely become a precedent-setting case for dead celebrity Twitter handles.
Court Case Number: 1:14-cv-00183-WTL-DML File Date: Friday, February 07, 2014 Plaintiff: James Dean, Inc., John Doe, One, John Doe, Two, John Doe, Three, John Doe, Four Plaintiff Counsel: Theodore J. Minch of Sovich Minch, LLP Defendant: Twitter, Inc. Cause: Trademark Infringement, False Endorsement, Indiana State Statutory Right of Publicity, Common Law Right of Publicity, Common Law Unfair Competition, Unjust Enrichment, Conversion, Deception, Indiana Crime Victims’ Act Court: Southern District of Indiana Judge: Judge William T. Lawrence Referred To: Magistrate Judge Debra McVicker Lynch
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