Tag Archives: Joseph S. Van Bokkelen

Carrington College accused of providing Personal Training students with copies of exams in advance

11 Wednesday Jul 2018

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Plaintiff National Federal of Professional Trainers, Inc., headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana, brings this action to prevent, and obtain damages for, Defendant Carrington College’s unauthorized copying and distribution of NFPT’s proprietary Certified Personal Trainer (“CPT”) credentialing examinations. Carrington College is a for-profit educational institution headquartered in Sacramento, California.

The Complaint alleges that “Carrington had given students copies of confidential and proprietary NFPT examinations, and then quizzed students on the copied examination questions until students memorized the answers to each specific question.”

Stay tuned for updates.

National Federation of Professional Trainers, Inc. v. Carrington College, Inc.

Court Case Number: 4:18-cv-00047-JVB-JEM
File Date: Monday, July 2, 2018
Plaintiff: National Federal of Professional Trainers, Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Anthony E. Dowell, Richard T. McCaulley, Kenley Eaglestone of McCaulley Dowell
Defendant: Carrington College, Inc.
Cause: Copyright Infringement, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets, Breach of Contract, Fraud
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Joseph S. Van Bokkelen
Referred To: John E. Martin

Complaint:

National Wrestling Alliance sues wrestler claiming to be “The Real NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion”

22 Tuesday May 2018

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

The Plaintiff in this action is the owner of the National Wrestling Alliance (“NWA”) brand. The NWA is a promotional and sanctioning body that licenses promoters and promotions around the world to conduct NWA professional wrestling events.

The Defendant, a professional wrestler residing in Indiana, has apparently been going around claiming to be “The Real NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion” and “The People’s NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion.”

Unable to convince the wrestler that he was not the “real” champ with cease-and-desist communications, Plaintiff now seeks the Court’s intervention. Stay tuned for updates.

Lightning One, Inc. v. Harmon

Court Case Number: 2:18-cv-00193-JVB-APR
File Date: Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Plaintiff: Lightning One, Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Michael V. Knight, Caitlin R. Byczko of Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Defendant: Nicholas P. Harmon
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: Joseph S. Van Bokkelen
Referred To: Andrew P. Rodovich

Complaint:

STOP THE DROP: Cell Phone Case vs. Seat Gap Filler…are you confused?

09 Wednesday Aug 2017

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

This a declaratory judgment action for both non-infringement of trademark and copyright. The declaratory judgment Plaintiff is Loopy, which sells cell phone cases that include a finger grip on the back of the case.  Loopy uses the trademark STOPTHEDROP in association with its cell phone cases, which you can see have a finger loop to prevent drops.

The Defendant, Drop Stop LLC of Los Angeles, California (as seen on Shark Tank), has a U.S. trademark registration for STOP THE DROP in connection with “IC 12 – Automobile interior accessory, namely, durable and flexible wedge, which can be expanded or contracted, to fill gap between front seat and center console of an automobile preventing objects from dropping into gap.” In other words, a seat gap filler.

Drop Stop sent a trademark cease-and-desist letter demanding that Loopy stop all use of STOPTHEDROP. Instead, Loopy has filed the action in the Northern District of Indiana for a declaratory judgment of non-infringement of Drop Stop’s trademark and copyrights. Stay tuned for updates.

While researching, I spotted a few other interesting uses of STOP THE DROP in the USPTO database:

Loopy Cases LLC v. Drop Stop, LLC

Court Case Number: 2:17-cv-00331-JVB-APR
File Date: Friday, August 4, 2017
Plaintiff: Loopy Cases LLC, John Wangercyn
Plaintiff Counsel: Peter J. Shakula of Wood Phillips
Defendant: Drop Stop, LLC
Cause: Declaratory Judgement of Trademark Non-Infringement, Declaratory Judgment of Copyright Non-Infringement
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Joseph S. Van Bokkelen
Referred To: Andrew P. Rodovich

Complaint: 

Harry’s Chocolate Shop sues University Spirit over unauthorized apparel sales

10 Monday Jul 2017

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Harry’s Chocolate Shop was founded in 1919 as the first and only soda fountain near Purdue University. Today it is a popular restaurant/bar, voted one of the best college bars in America.

Harry’s owns the following registered trademarks: GO UGLY EARLY, DRINK ‘EM PRETTY, DRINK ‘EM CUTE, and HOME OF “THE GREAT INDOORSMAN”.

Defendants operate a nearby retail store named University Spirit. The parties previously had a non-exclusive (oral) license agreement for University Spirit to produce and sell apparel bearing Harry’s trademarks. In 2012, the Defendants stopped making royalty payments and Harry’s brings this action seeking payment of royalties owed and an injunction against further sales.

Harry’s Chocolate Shop Incorporated v. Goldden Corporation et al

Court Case Number: 4:17-cv-000570-JVB-APR
File Date: July 6, 2017
Plaintiff: Harry’s Chocolate Shop Incorporated
Plaintiff Counsel: William A. McKenna of Woodard, Emhardt, Moriarty, McNett & Henry LLP
Defendant: Goldden Corporation, Gary E. Edmondson
Cause: Breach of Contract, Trademark Infringement and Counterfeiting, False and Deceptive Labeling, Unfair Competition
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Joseph S. Van Bokkelen
Referred To: Andrew P. Rodovich

Complaint:

Artist sues Boat Dealer over Breach of License

12 Monday Sep 2016

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Pursuant to an agreement, Plaintiff created and applied artwork to a limited number of Defendant’s boats.

Defendant is alleged to have continued selling boats with substantially similar artwork outside the terms of the original license.

The Art of Design, Inc. v. Pontoon Boat, LLC et al

Court Case Number: 3:16-cv-00595-JVB-JEM
File Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Plaintiff: The Art Of Design, Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: John D. LaDue, Sean J. Quinn of LaDue | Curran | Kuehn
Defendant: Pontoon Boat, LLC d/b/a Bennington and Bennington Marine, Hawkeye Boat Sales
Cause: Breach of Contract, Unjust Enrichment, Copyright Infringement, Unfair Competition, Inducing Copyright Infringement, Violations of DMCA
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Joseph S. Van Bokkelen
Referred To: John E. Martin

Complaint:

Exhibit A:

screen-shot-2016-09-12-at-12-14-38-pm