Tag Archives: Jane Magnus-Stinson

Delta Faucet Company sues Amazon Counterfeiter over Unauthorized Sales

03 Friday Feb 2023

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

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Delta Faucet Company is once again pursuing a counterfeit faucet seller from Amazon in the Southern District of Indiana. The Complaint (below) details how a company’s trademarks are impacted by unauthorized sellers and the resulting negative online marketplace reviews. As with Delta’s previously-filed lawsuits, the Complaint highlights the gray market existing within Amazon’s “Fulfillment by Amazon” services that allows for counterfeit sales, leading to invalid product warranties, disgruntled consumers, and damaged brands.

Delta’s most recent “counterfeit” lawsuit resulted in a default judgment and permanent injunction as the Defendant never appeared. The lawsuit took just a few days over one years. The injunction, probably Delta’s real goal, presumably allowed them to finally stop the unauthorized Amazon sales. However, like mosquitoes, stop one counterfeiter and another will inevitably appear. We can probably expect a similar result in this lawsuit…no appearance by the defendants, default judgment, and injunction.

Stay tuned for updates.

Delta Faucet Company v. Watkins et al.

Court Case Number: 1:23-cv-00200-JMS-MKK
File Date: February 1, 2023
Plaintiff: Delta Faucet Company
Plaintiff Counsel: Louis T. Perry of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Defendants: Ben Watkins, John Does 1-10
Cause: Federal Trademark Infringement, Federal Unfair Competition, Common Law Trademark Infringement, Common Law Unfair Competition, Indiana Crime Victim’s Relief Act, Deception
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Jane Magnus-Stinson
Referred To: M. Kendra Klump

Complaint:

Center for Gestalt Development sues Indiana Resident for Publication of Gestalt Therapy Manuscripts

15 Tuesday Nov 2022

Posted by in Intellectual Property

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The named defendant in this copyright lawsuit is accused of publishing previously unpublished manuscripts of Frederick Perls, a psychiatrist who developed Gestalt therapy, an influential form of psychotherapy. The plaintiff is the Center of Gestalt Development, who claim ownership of the manuscripts.

The named defendant, an Indiana resident, successfully challenged jurisdiction and venue in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, so the lawsuit was refiled against him in Indiana. There are two other French defendants and the plaintiff is seeking to consolidate the cases in Indiana.

Stay tuned for updates.

The Center for Gestalt Development, Inc. v. Bowman

Court Case Number: 1:22-cv-02185-JMS-MG
File Date: November 9, 2022
Plaintiff: The Center for Gestalt Development, Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: George A. Gasper, Brian Cavanaugh of Ice Miller LLP
Defendant: Charles Bowman
Cause: Copyright Infringement, Contributory Copyright Infringement, Vicarious Copyright Infringement
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Jane Magnus-Stinson
Referred To: Mario Garcia

Complaint:

Florida Husband/Wife Marketing Team Sued in Indiana for Stealing Etsy Artwork and Selling it as their Own

05 Tuesday Apr 2022

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

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The Defendants, a Florida husband/wife marketing team, are accused of purchasing digital artwork from Plaintiff’s Etsy site and then selling it on their own website as their own work and intellectual property. The Plaintiff is an artist from Guilford, Indiana (home of the historic Guilford Covered Bridge). In addition to Plaintiff, the Defendants are alleged to have used artwork from numerous creators without authorization.

The Defendants’ own Terms of Use from their website are referenced in the Complaint (below) as evidence of their understanding (and thus willful violation) of copyright law. The Defendants are further alleged to have removed the metadata from the Plaintiff’s image files, which could support a claim of “Removal or Alteration of Copyright Management Information” although that wasn’t included in the initial Complaint. The Complaint also details unsuccessful attempted communications between Plaintiff’s counsel and the Defendants.

Damages for willful copyright infringement can be severe, up to $150,000 per infringement. If the Defendants are truly serial infringers as alleged, the Court could easily decide to grant the maximum damages award. The Defendants could also be required to pay Plaintiff’s costs and attorneys’ fees, likely a hefty amount in itself.

Stay tuned for updates.

Mapes v. Top Tier Marketers LLC d/b/a Artfily et al.

Case Number: 1:22-cv-00674-JMS-DLP
File Date: Monday, April 4, 2022
Plaintiff: Tara Mapes
Plaintiff Counsel: Michelle L. Casper, Rachael L. Rodman of Ulmer & Berne LLP
Defendant: Top Tier Marketers LLC d/b/a Artfily, Meagan Broadwater, Dean Broadwater
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Jane Magnus-Stinson
Referred To: Doris L. Pryor

Complaint:

Carmel-based Autoniq sues Laser Appraiser for False Advertising, Breach of Settlement Agreement

25 Friday Feb 2022

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

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The plaintiff, Carmel, Indiana-based Autoniq, provides a software solution that allows vehicle dealers to find, research, purchase and price vehicles, both online and at auction.

On January 29, 2021, Autoniq settled a prior lawsuit against the defendant, Laser Appraiser of Watkinsville, Georgia, based on trademark disputes involving deceptive online advertising. The parties signed a settlement agreement which included a $10,000 per breach liquidated damages provision for any future violations.

Apparently the defendant’s marketing department just couldn’t stand not using “Autoniq” in their online ads (along with arguably deceptive information about the plaintiff’s software), as less than a year later, in December 2021, Autoniq discovered new online advertisements by Laser Appraiser that allegedly violate the terms of the parties’ settlement agreement. As such, Autoniq has filed this lawsuit based on the new advertisements, but now backed with a $10,000 per breach liquidated damages provision.

Stay tuned for updates.

Autoniq, LLC v. Laser Appraiser, LLC

Case Number: 1:22-cv-00368-JMS-DML
File Date: February 21, 2022
Plaintiff: Autoniq, LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Louis T. Perry of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Defendant: Laser Appraiser, LLC
Cause: False Advertising, Breach of Contract
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Jane Magnus-Stinson
Referred To: Debra McVicker Lynch

Complaint:

Chicks on the Right sued over unauthorized use of Topless Selfie Teacher Photo

29 Monday Nov 2021

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

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Here’s another copyright lawsuit that supports the argument for a copyright small claims court.

The plaintiff is a New York-based professional photographer who owns the registered copyright in a photograph of Lauren Miranda, a New York teacher fired over a topless selfie. Mrs. Miranda was subsequently awarded $3 million in a gender discrimination lawsuit over the firing.

The defendant, Chicks on the Right, an Indianapolis-based politically conservative online news radio show and website, allegedly used the plaintiff’s photograph of Mrs. Miranda in an April 2019 blog post reporting on the teacher’s gender discrimination lawsuit (note: the plaintiff filed for registration of the photograph on June 30, 2019, almost 3 months after the blog post). While the defendant might be hoping to rely on a “news reporting” fair use defense, unfortunately there’s really no “fair use” reason to use the plaintiff’s specific photograph. Numerous images of Mrs. Miranda exist that could have been used (with proper authorization), and the Chicks on the Right blog post isn’t commenting, criticizing, or reporting on the plaintiff’s actual image. Having an online “news blog” isn’t a free pass to use any photograph you find on Google Images.

The reality is that professional photographers take lots of photos for a living, and sell only few. Perhaps political differences kept this dispute from reaching a simple non-litigious monetary resolution. Now, we can expect technicalities about the actual photograph’s ownership, registration or use to be explored in the defendant’s response or discovery.

On one hand, the Chicks on the Right, who likely use photographs for news articles on a daily basis, should be in the habit of verifying the source of every photograph they post on their blog. Presumably, in this specific instance two years ago, someone just got lazy or quick and grabbed the wrong photograph off the internet.

On the other hand, there’s simply no reason a U.S. Federal Court and esteemed judges like Jane Magnus-Stinson and Debra McVicker Lynch, already overloaded with significant legal disputes, should be dealing with a copyright lawsuit over one photograph (of a person most people have never heard of) used on a single “news” blog post. Statutory damages for a single non-willful infringement would be $750, almost certainly less than the plaintiff spent on preparing and filing this lawsuit, and definitely less than the Court has to expend in processing the dispute. You can’t blame the plaintiff though; currently, they have no other alternative legal option than federal court for a photography copyright dispute. Time will tell if there’s better way to handle such disputes.

Note that the allegedly infringing image no longer appears on the defendant’s website as of the posting of this blog (11/29/21).

By the way, go do a Google search for Lauren Miranda’s attorney. Sharp dresser. So much so, I’m giving this post a “Fashion” tag.

Stay tuned for updates.

Alcorn v. COTR, LLC

File Date: November 22, 2021
Plaintiff: Victor Alcorn
Plaintiff Counsel: Craig B. Sanders, Esq.
Defendant: COTR, LLC
Cause: Direct Copyright Infringement
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Jane Magnus-Stinson
Referred To: Debra McVicker Lynch

Complaint: