• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer

Indiana Intellectual Property Blog

~ Trademark and Copyright Law Updates in Indiana

Indiana Intellectual Property Blog

Tag Archives: Kellie M. Barr

Delta Faucet Company sues Amazon Counterfeiters in Southern District of Indiana

01 Friday Nov 2024

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Common Law Trademark Infringement, Common Law Unfair Competition, Federal Trademark Infringement, Federal Unfair Competition, Indiana Crime Victim’s Relief Act, Kellie M. Barr, Richard L. Young

Delta Faucet Company is once again pursuing counterfeit faucet sellers from Amazon in the Southern District of Indiana. The Complaint (below), always an enjoyable read, discusses how a company’s trademarks are impacted by unauthorized sellers and their negative online reviews. The counterfeiter defendants typically don’t make an appearance in these lawsuits and thus it usually proceeds right to default judgment. The last Delta counterfeiter sued in Indiana earned himself a damages award of $5.4 million and a permanent injunction, so the “head in the sand” strategy is a really bad one. Let’s wait and see if this case is handled any differently.

Stay tuned for updates.

Delta Faucet Company v. Bundrick et al.

Court Case Number: 1:24-cv-01901-RLY-KMB
File Date: October 28, 2024
Plaintiff: Delta Faucet Company
Plaintiff Counsel: Louis T. Perry of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Defendants: Justin Bundrick, Andrew Bundrick, 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
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Richard L. Young
Referred To: Kellie M. Barr

Complaint:

View this document on Scribd

Fishers Sauna Company sued over Towel Rack Photograph

24 Wednesday Jul 2024

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Direct Copyright Infringement, Kellie M. Barr, Matthew P. Brookman, Photography

A Fishers, Indiana-based sauna company has been sued for the unauthorized use of a towel rack photograph on their website. Unlike many of these photography copyright lawsuits, the defendant did not immediately settle and has filed its Answer (below). The parties have begun the initial phases of discovery, having already submitted initial disclosures and filed their witness and exhibit lists.

Stay tuned for updates.

Howarth v. My Sauna World LLC

Court Case Number: 1:24-cv-00734-MPB-KMB
File Date: April 29, 2024
Plaintiff: Morgan Howarth
Plaintiff Counsel: Craig Sanders of Sanders Law Group
Defendant: My Sauna World LLC
Cause: Direct Copyright Infringement
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Matthew P. Brookman
Referred To: Kellie M. Barr

Complaint:

View this document on Scribd

Answer:

View this document on Scribd

Copyright Lawsuit filed against Indiana Conservative News Site over New York Migrant Hotel Photo

05 Friday Jul 2024

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Direct Copyright Infringement, Kellie M. Barr, Photography, Removal and Alteration of Copyright Management Information, Sarah Evans Barker

Here is yet another copyright lawsuit over the unauthorized use of a photograph. The plaintiff is a New York-based photographer and the defendant is a conservative news site based in Clark County, Indiana. The photograph was of a group of migrants being kicked out of the Watson Hotel in New York City.

Stay tuned to see whether the conservative site decides to pay an attorney and assert a fair use defense or simply settle the lawsuit by paying a license fee.

Miller v. Empire News LLC

Court Case Number: 4:24-cv-00091-SEB-KMB
File Date: June 26, 2024
Plaintiff: William Miller
Plaintiff Counsel: Renee Aragona of Sanders Law Group
Defendant: Empire News LLC
Cause: Direct Copyright Infringement, Removal and Alteration of Copyright Management Information
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Sarah Evans Barker
Referred To: Kellie M. Barr

Complaint: 

View this document on Scribd

Indianapolis Advertising Agency sued over Song Clip in 2016 Facebook Post

28 Tuesday Nov 2023

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Advertising Law, Copyright, Indiana, Indianapolis, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Musicians, Southern District of Indiana

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Direct Copyright Infringement, Kellie M. Barr, Tanya Walton Pratt

An Indianapolis-based advertising agency is being sued for using a 5-second song clip in a promotional video posted on their Facebook page on March 11, 2016.

The plaintiff, a musical group called the Quad City DJ’s, alleges that they first discovered the “infringing” post on June 20, 2023. Approximately 5-6 seconds of the plaintiff’s song, “Space Jam,” are played in the background of a video promoting Dribble to Work Day during the NCAA Women’s Final Four. The short promotional video, still viewable here, has only 294 views since being published in 2016. How many of those views are the plaintiff and plaintiff’s counsel?

This lawsuit should serve as a warning to all businesses to go back and review old social media posts, checking for any unauthorized photos, music, videos, etc. Old social media content is now being scanned by AI bots, even “watching” old videos, and a federal lawsuit could always be lurking. While real damages might be low, copyright law allows for a plaintiff to recover statutory damages, legal costs, and attorney fees.

Consider whether it’s time for your business to delete some old social media content.

Watson Music Group, LLC v. Borshoff, Inc.

Court Case Number: 1:23-cv-02117-TWP-KMB
File Date: November 22, 2023
Plaintiff: Watson Music Group, LLC d/b/a Quadrasound Music
Plaintiff Counsel: Craig Sanders, Esq. of Sanders Law Group
Defendant: Borshoff, Inc.
Cause: Direct Copyright Infringement
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Tanya Walton Pratt
Referred To: Kellie M. Barr

Complaint:

View this document on Scribd

Photography Lawsuit filed against Carmel Vietnamese Restaurant

16 Thursday Nov 2023

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Copyright, Indiana, Indianapolis, Intellectual Property, Litigation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Copyright Infringement, Kellie M. Barr, Photography, Sarah Evans Barker

It seems we can’t go more than a few days without a new photography copyright lawsuit in Indiana. The defendant this time is a Carmel, Indiana-based Vietnamese restaurant called Pho Real. They apparently used one of the plaintiff’s photographs of noodles, which I’m guessing they found on Google Images, on their restaurant’s website without authorization.

Businesses, you should prioritize an immediate audit of your company’s website to determine whether you have authority (via ownership, license, fair use, etc.) to use every photograph. If not, even if it’s just a blurry partial photo, it seems that your use could quickly become the subject of a federal copyright lawsuit.

Matsumoto v. Pho Real LLC

Court Case Number: 1:23-cv-02059-SEB-KMB
File Date: November 15, 2023
Plaintiff: Shoichi Matsumoto
Plaintiff Counsel: Jay Campbell Miller of SRIPLAW, P.A.
Defendant: Pho Real LLC
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Sarah Evans Barker
Referred To: Kellie M. Barr

Complaint:

View this document on Scribd
← Older posts

Categories

  • Advertising Law (1)
  • Artists (23)
  • Authors (20)
  • Bloggers (37)
  • Branding (29)
  • Business Law (9)
  • Copyright (327)
  • Dear KLF Legal (4)
  • Defamation (5)
  • Entertainment Law (14)
  • Estate Law (2)
  • Family Law (2)
  • Fashion (5)
  • Federal Initiatives (33)
  • Indiana (603)
  • Indianapolis (51)
  • Intellectual Property (662)
  • Just for Fun (25)
  • KLF Legal (19)
  • Legislation (34)
  • Litigation (595)
  • Musicians (13)
  • Nonprofit (6)
  • Northern District of Indiana (215)
  • Patent (44)
  • Privacy (15)
  • Right of Publicity (8)
  • Social Media (56)
  • Southern District of Indiana (369)
  • Stories from the Week that Was (42)
  • Supreme Court (13)
  • Tech Developments (119)
  • Trade Dress (26)
  • Trade Secret (15)
  • Trademark (363)
  • What I'm Reading (8)

Bloggers Copyright Federal Initiatives Indiana Indianapolis Intellectual Property Legislation Litigation Northern District of Indiana Patent Social Media Southern District of Indiana Stories from the Week that Was Tech Developments Trademark

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Indiana Intellectual Property Blog
    • Join 82 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Indiana Intellectual Property Blog
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...