11 Saturday Jun 2011
Court Case Number: 3:11-cv-00242-JD -CAN
File Date: Friday, June 10, 2011
Plaintiff: Joel Gabbard
Plaintiff Counsel: Sarah S Burns of Simmons Browder Gianaris Angelides & Barnerd LLC
Defendant: VMB LLC, Vento LLC
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Judge Jon E. DeGuilio
Referred To: Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein
04 Saturday Jun 2011
Tags
Accounting, Breach of Contract, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Breach of Good Faith, Christopher A. Nuechterlein, Copyright Infringement, Jon E. DeGuilio, Litigation Update, Promissory Estoppel, Tortious Interference with Contract, Tortious Interference with Prospective Business Relations, Unjust Enrichment, Unjust Quantum Meruit, Violation of Law 75 of Puerto Rico, Violation of Tennessee Unfair Trade Practices Act, Violation of the Idaho Unfair Trade Practices Act, Violation of the Illinois Franchise Act, Violation of the Illinois Unfair Trade Practices Act, Violation of the Indiana Franchise Act, Wrongful Conversion of Customer List
Court Case Number: 3:11-cv-00233-JD -CAN
File Date: Friday, June 03, 2011
Plaintiff: Susan Lynch, Math-U-See Indiana Inc, Lisa Angle, Jim Angle
Plaintiff Counsel: Brent E Inabnit, Joshua A Visser of Sopko Nussbaum Inabnit & Kaczmarek
Defendant: Math-U-See Inc, Steven Demme, Ethan Demme
Cause: Breach of Contract, Breach of Good Faith, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Violation of the Indiana Franchise Act, Violation of Illinois Franchise Act, Violation of the Idaho Unfair Trade Practices Act, Violation of Illinois Unfair Trade Practices Act, Violation of Tennessee Unfair Trade Practices Act, Violation of Law 75 of Puerto Rico, Tortious Interference with Contract, Tortious Interference with Prospective Business Relations, Wrongful Conversion of Customer List, Promissory Estoppel, Unjust Enrichment/Quantum Meruit, Copyright Infringement, Accounting,
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Judge Jon E DeGuilio
Referred To: Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein
17 Monday Jan 2011
Plaintiff operates a daily newspaper called THE ELKHART TRUTH in Elkhart, Indiana. Defendant publishes a periodical called I.C.U. (Indiana Criminals Uncovered) MUG SHOTS. I.C.U. MUG SHOTS apparently copies news stories relating to crime and arrests directly from Plaintiff’s paper and sells the reprints for $1.50 a copy in Elkhart.
I can see why The Elkhart Truth would get tired of sending out its reporters to dig up info only to have another local paper photocopy their stories and republish. But, on some levels, isn’t Defendant doing a public service by helping spread information about criminals? Defendant certainly considered the copyright issues, as he included the following disclaimer:
“The information provided by Indiana Criminal Uncovered (ICU) Mugshots is of public record in accordance with Indiana Code 5-14-3-5. The information relates only to arrest, bookings, and preliminary charges. It does not address guilty pleas, convictions, or criminal sentences. All persons in this publication are innocent until provent guilty”
Whether the disclaimer can protect him will be determined by this lawsuit.
Defendant is running the old-school equivalent of a criminal law blog, which of course requires a little money for printing and distribution. Defendant is correct that mug shots and arrest records are public information. However, it appeared that Defendant copied the articles directly and distributed the reprints in the same geographic market, Elkhart.
While it’s likely that some people may not buy the Truth if they can get crime news from Defendant, there is apparently a wholly separate market of people who want crime stories but not the rest of the news content contained in a regular issue of the Truth. If so, Defendant may be able to continue to serve this audience, but will probably want to do more of his own fact-finding and reporting.
Court Case Number: 3:11-cv-00017-JD-CAN
File Date: Thursday, January 13, 2011
Plaintiff: Truth Publishing Company Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Steven M. Badger of Bose McKinney & Evans LLP
Defendant: Kristopher C. Campbell
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Judge Jon E. DeGuilio
Referred To: Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein
05 Tuesday Oct 2010
Tags
Christopher A. Nuechterlein, Jon E. DeGuilio, Litigation Update, Trademark Infringement, Unfair Competition
This lawsuit is the fourth pending matter between these parties. The lawsuit revolves around the alleged theft of a company’s full client/contact list. High-tech computer espionage? No. The “sales person then contacted a personal friend of his who was a sales employee at [Plaintiff] and asked that sales employee to get him a copy of the Master List.” D’oh.
Companies, do you have a trade secret policy and the proper mechanisms in place to protect your valuable, confidential information? If not, I can tell you it costs a lot less than a trade secret lawsuit.
Court Case Number: 3:10-cv-00409-JED-CAN
File Date: Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Plaintiff: Forest River Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Ryan M. Fountain of Law Offices of Ryan M. Fountain
Defendant: Heartland Recreational Vehicles LLC
Cause: Computer Fraud and Abuse, Unfair Competition, Tortious Interference, Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Mischief, Trademark Infringement
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Judge Jon E. DeGuilio
Referred To: Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein
27 Friday Aug 2010
Tags
Andrew P. Rodovich, False Designation of Origin, Federal Trademark Infringement, Jon E. DeGuilio, Unfair Competition, Violation of the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act
Trans-United Inc. v. Trans-United Inc et al
A nice straightforward trademark case. Plaintiff has provided trucking and shipping services under the TRANS-UNITED mark since 1964. Defendant allegedly began using an identical mark for similar services in 2008. Attempts to settle were unsuccessful and thus here’s the lawsuit.
Leave a comment for a copy of the full complaint.
Court Case Number: 2:10-cv-00327-JD -APR
File Date: Monday, August 16, 2010
Plaintiff: Trans-United Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Jeremy J. Butler of Burke Costanze & Cuppy LLP
Thomas P. Riley of McCracken & Frank LLP
Jon A. Schmaltz of Burke Costanze & Cuppy LLP
Defendant: Trans-United Inc
Igor Redkin
Vladimir Masnev
Oleg Merkulov
Russell McNevin
John Doe 1
John Doe 2
John Doe 3
Cause: Federal Trademark Infringement, False Designation of Origin, Violation of the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, Unfair Competition
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Judge Jon E. DeGuilio
Referred To: Magistrate Judge Andrew P. Rodovich
Indiana Intellectual Property Blog 