Category Archives: Trademark

Super 8 sues Past Franchisee for Violation of Franchise Agreement, Unauthorized Transfer of Hotel

27 Tuesday Dec 2016

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

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The Defendants in this lawsuit are alleged to have transferred possession of their “Super 8”-franchised hotel (located in Auburn, Indiana) in violation of the terms of their Franchise Agreement.

The new owner, also named as a defendant, has continued to use Plaintiff’s trademarks despite termination of the Franchise Agreement in July 2014.

As is customary for franchise violations, a lawsuit often must be filed to protect not only the Plaintiff and its trademarks, but also the rights of the rest of its valid franchisees. Allowing unauthorized franchises to exist without repercussions can undermine the rights of valid paying franchise holders.

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Super 8 Worldwide Inc. v. Auburn Lodging Associates LLP et al

Court Case Number: 1:16-cv-00435-PPS-SLC
File Date: Thursday, December 22, 2016
Plaintiff: Super 8 Worldwide Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Richard M. Blaiklock, Charles R. Whybrew of Lewis Wagner, LLP
Defendant: Auburn Lodging Associates, LLP, Kokila Patel, Dilip Patel, Chicago Capital Holdings, LLC
Cause: Trademark Infringement (Service Mark Infringement), False Designation of Origin, Counterfeiting, Indiana State Trademark Infringement, Indiana State Unfair Competition, Accounting, Liquidated Damages, Actual Damages, Recurring Fees, Unjust Enrichment, Guarantors’ Liability, Self-Help
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Philip P. Simon
Referred To: Susan L. Collins

Complaint:

Trademark Lawsuit filed in Indiana against Titleist, Cleveland Golf Club Counterfeiter

26 Monday Dec 2016

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

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Defendant, a resident of Carmel, Indiana, is accused of selling counterfeit golf clubs and golf accessories. In addition to trademark claims, the Complaint includes a wide range of Indiana code violations.

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Acushnet Company et al. v. Nunns et al.

Court Case Number:1:16-cv-3379-RLY-TAB
File Date: Thursday, December 15, 2016
Plaintiff: Acushnet Company, Roger Cleveland Golf Company, Inc., Dunlop Sports Co. LTD
Plaintiff Counsel: Jonathan G. Polak of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Defendant: Giorgio V. Nunns a/k/a George Nunns a/k/a Georgie Nunns a/k/a Giorgio, Custom Golf Solutions, LLC d/b/a bogie’s nearly new golf d/b/a gnunns81 d/b/a golf customsolutions15
Cause: Trademark Counterfeiting, Trademark Infringement, False Designation of Origin, Common Law Trademark Infringement, Conversion, Forgery, Counterfeiting, Theft, Criminal Mischief
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Richard L. Young
Referred To: Mark J. Dinsmore

Complaint:

Past President sues Military History Museum for Trademark Infringement

07 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by in Indiana, Intellectual Property, Southern District of Indiana, Trademark

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Plaintiff is the owner of a federal trademark registration for FREEDOM HERITAGE MUSEUM, registered on April 19, 2016. He first used the mark in 2012 in connection with a military history museum of which he was the founding president and a board member.

Plaintiff left the museum in October 2016 and notified the museum that it could no longer use the trademark. He has begun promoting a new Evansville museum with the same name.

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This case serves as a good reminder for small businesses and non-profits to own their own trademarks, rather than registering them in the name of an owner or board member.

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Litov v. Freedom Heritage Museum

Court Case Number: 3:16-cv-00241-RLY-MPB
File Date: Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Plaintiff: Richard Litov
Plaintiff Counsel: Keith E. Rounder, Gary K. Price of Terrell, Baugh, Salmon & Born, LLP
Defendant: Freedom Heritage Museum, Inc.
Cause: Federal Trademark Infringement, Unfair Competition, False Designation, State Unfair Competition
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Richard L. Young
Referred To: Matthew P. Brookman

Complaint:

GNARLY HEAD wine vs. GNARLY GROVE hard cider…are you confused?

02 Wednesday Nov 2016

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

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Plaintiff Gnarly Head, a California winery, asserts that Columbus, Indiana’s Simmons Winery has adopted a confusingly similar trademark and trade dress with their new line of Gnarly Grove hard cider.

I’ll leave the question of confusion for you. What I’d really like to know is who is mixing wine and hard cider??? Tasty?

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Delicato Vineyards v. Gnarly Grove Cider Co.

Court Case Number: 1:16-cv-02932-TWP-DKL
File Date: Friday, October 28, 2016
Plaintiff: Delicato Vineyards
Plaintiff Counsel: Jonathan G. Polak, Cristina A. Costa of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, LLP
Defendant: Gnarly Grove Cider Co.
Cause: Trademark Infringement, Trade Dress Infringement, False Designation of Origin, Common Law Unfair Competition
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Tanya Walton Pratt
Referred To: Denise K. LaRue

Complaint:

Miami (OH) Student Apartments sued over ANNEX Trademark

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

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

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Since 2013, Plaintiff has used the trademark THE ANNEX in connection with nine student housing facilities in three states. Seven of the student housing facilities are in Indiana and one is in Marion, Ohio (one hour north of Columbus). Plaintiff has no trademark registration.

Defendant recently built a student housing facility in Oxford, Ohio (home of the Miami University RedHawks) called, you guessed it, Annex.

With plans to expand to other college towns, Plaintiff maintains that Defendant’s use of a similar name will cause consumer confusion. Unable to resolve their dispute with cease-and-desist communications, Plaintiff has filed this lawsuit to assert its rights to THE ANNEX in the Midwest.

Whether they wind up being called “Annex” or not, the new Oxford apartments should do fine. A nice pool and allegedly the largest clubhouse in Oxford. Looking at their Facebook page though, it will be a big shame to lose of all the cool Annex swag. They even have an “Annex”-branded shuttle bus. Based on Plaintiff’s dependence on common law rights and Defendant’s already substantial investment, I could see the Oxford team putting up a strong defense.

Stay tuned for updates.

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Mecca Companies Inc. d/b/a Annex Student Living v. Trinitas Ventures LLC

Court Case Number: 1:16-cv-02499-WTL-MJD
File Date: Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Plaintiff: Mecca Companies Inc. d/b/a Annex Student Living
Plaintiff Counsel: Bradley M. Stohry of Reichel Story LLP
Defendant: Trinitas Ventures
Cause: Trademark Infringement, Unfair Competition, Violation of Ohio Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Common Law Unfair Competition
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: William T. Lawrence
Referred To: Mark J. Dinsmore

Complaint:

ZIG-ZAG looks to smoke out counterfeiters in Indiana

18 Thursday Aug 2016

Posted by in Branding, Copyright, Indiana, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Northern District of Indiana, Trade Dress, Trademark

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This is an anti-counterfeiting action against an extensive list of defendants who allegedly manufacture, import and sell counterfeit versions of Plaintiff’s ZIG-ZAG cigarette papers in Indiana.

As expected, the counterfeit products are “inferior, cheaper versions sold without any known quality control or authorization.”

Stopping counterfeiters is a difficult task and, as seen here, must often be done on a state-by-state basis.

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North Atlantic Operating Company, Inc. et al v. KPC Distributor Inc. et al

Court Case Number: 1:16-cv-00307-PPS-SLC
File Date: Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Plaintiff: North Atlantic Operating Company, Inc.; National Tobacco Company, L.P.
Plaintiff Counsel: Gregory W. Pottorff, Adam Arceneaux of Ice Miller
Defendant: KPC Distributor Inc. et al.
Cause: Federal Trademark Infringement, False Designation of Origin, Trade Dress Infringement, Federal Copyright Infringement, Common Law Unfair Competition, Common Law Trademark Infringement
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Philip P. Simon
Referred To: Susan L. Collins

Complaint:

USPTO upgrading website to https

11 Thursday Aug 2016

Posted by in Intellectual Property, Patent, Tech Developments, Trademark

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On August 12, 2016, the informational web pages currently found at http://www.uspto.gov will be moved to https://www.uspto.gov. The USPTO has decided to finally use HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure), currently the strongest privacy protection available for public web connections.

Those accessing web pages formerly found at http://www.uspto.gov will automatically be redirected to the pages’ new https location.

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Fishers sign company sues competitor for cybersquatting

13 Wednesday Jul 2016

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

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Plaintiff, based in Fishers, Indiana, is in the business of graphic design, sign manufacturing, metal fabrication, and creating promotional material and apparel.

Plaintiff’s website is located at www.eye4group.com.

Defendant is in the business of sign making and associated tools and products and is a direct competitor of Plaintiff in the Indianapolis area.

Defendant allegedly registered the domain “www.eyefourgroup.com” on October 1, 2015 and directed all traffic to its own website. That’s a no-no.

The domain is currently not active.

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Eye 4 Group, LLC v. Indianapolis Sign Works Inc. et al.

Court Case Number: 1:16-cv-01864-JMS-MPB
File Date: Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Plaintiff: Eye 4 Group, LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Jennifer L. Mozwecz of SRM Law, Joe Duepner of Duepler Law, LLC
Defendant: Indianapolis Sign Works Inc., Andrew Chapman
Cause: Federal Trademark Infringement, Federal Unfair Competition, False Designation of Origin, Common Law Trademark Infringement, Common Law Unfair Competition, Federal Trademark Dilution, Contributory Trademark Infringement, Deception, Conversion, Indiana Crime Victim’s Relief Act, Cybersquatting, Violation of the CyberPiracy Prevention Act
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Jane Magnus-Stinson
Referred To: Matthew P. Brookman

Complaint:

Eli Lilly sues to prevent online sale of unauthorized foreign pet medications

07 Thursday Jul 2016

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

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The defendant in this trademark lawsuit, an online pet supply store, is alleged to be selling unauthorized foreign pet medication in the United States. According to the Complaint (below), foreign medications, primarily from South Africa, are being sold in violation of FDA mandates.

The specific brands at issue are ELANCO, COMFORTIS, TRIFEXIS, INTERCEPTOR and CAPSTAR pet medicines.

The Honorable Jane Magnus Stinson entered a default judgment and injunction against the prior owners of the same website on June 13, 2014, in Case No. 1:13-cv-01800-JMS-DML. New owners subsequently resumed and expanded sales, hence this follow-up lawsuit.

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Eli Lilly Company et al. v. Best Value Pet Supplies

Court Case Number: 1:16-cv-01787-RLY-DML
File Date: Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Plaintiff: Eli Lilly and Company, Novartis Tiergesundheit AG
Plaintiff Counsel: Jan M. Carroll, Anne N. DePrez of Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Defendant: Scott Martin d/b/a Best Value Pet Supplies, Does 1-10
Cause: Federal Trademark Infringement, Federal Unfair Competition, Indiana Unfair Competition
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Richard L. Young
Referred To: Debra McVicker Lynch

Complaint:

Great Divide Brewing sues Red Yeti Brewing over Yeti trademarks

06 Monday Jun 2016

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

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Denver-based Great Divide Brewing Company has been using the registered trademark YETI in connection with “Beer and Ale” since 2005. Specifically, Great Divide has a range of imperial stouts utilizing the Yeti word mark and a design mark of the outline of a yeti, the pose closely emulating the gait from the famous Bigfoot video. Great Divide’s yeti is usually white on packaging and marketing materials, but sometimes red.

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Jeffersonville, Indiana-based The Red Yeti, a restaurant/brewpub serving a limited selection of its own beer (currently a porter and hefeweizen), recently celebrated its second anniversary. Their logo is, not surprisingly, a red yeti in the typical walking pose.

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When Red Yeti failed to satisfactorily meet Great Divide’s cessation demands, this lawsuit was filed. Stay tuned for updates.

Great Divide Brewing Company v. Red Yeti Brewing Company, Inc.

Court Case Number: 4:16-cv-00084-TWP-DML
File Date: Friday, June 3, 2016
Plaintiff: Great Divide Brewing Company
Plaintiff Counsel: Michael W. McClain, Robert W. DeWees, III of McClain DeWees, PLLC
Defendant: Red Yeti Brewing Company, Inc.
Cause: Trademark Infringement, Unfair Competition, False Designation of Origin, Federal Dilution, Common Law Unfair Competition, Common Law Trademark Infringement, Deceptive Trade Practices
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Tanya Walton Pratt
Referred To: Debra McVicker Lynch

Complaint: