Tag Archives: Susan L. Collins

JUMPSTART COMMUNICATIONS vs. JUMPSTART COMMUNICATION…are you confused?

31 Thursday Oct 2024

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

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The parties to this new Indiana trademark lawsuit have a long personal history, including previously being married, but we’re taking a look at the case for its intellectual property claims, i.e. trademark infringement between the marks JUMPSTART COMMUNICATIONS and JUMPSTART COMMUNICATION. The companies offer the same services, telecommunications construction services, in the same geographic area. The Complaint (below) provides some details about the defendant’s decision to choose a similar name, along with other allegedly damaging behavior, including solicitation of customers and employees.

Stay tuned for updates, although I don’t expect this case to last very long, at least the trademark claims. There are some additional claims that may linger even if the trademark issue is resolved, for example, by a name change.

Jumpstart Communications LLC v. Jumper et al.

Court Case Number: 1:24-cv-00447-HAB-SLC
File Date: October 22, 2024
Plaintiff: Jumpstart Communications LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carrie E. Sheridan, J.Blake Hike, Brendan C. Ruff, Stephanie Fleming of Carson LLP
Defendant: Ryan Jumper, Jumpstart Communication LLC
Cause: Federal Trademark Infringement, Federal False Designation of Origin, Federal Trademark Dilution, Federal Unfair Competition, RICO Violations, Breach of Fiduciary Duties, Tortious Interference with Contract, Tortious Interference with Business Relationship, Civil Theft
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Holly A. Brady
Referred To: Susan L. Collins

Complaint:

Fort Wayne Dad sued for Copyright Infringement by Christian Nonprofit

05 Friday Jul 2024

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

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The plaintiff in the latest Indiana copyright lawsuit is a privately funded Christian non-profit that provides public school families with released time religious instruction. The defendant, an individual from Fort Wayne, Indiana, is alleged to have posed as a volunteer of plaintiff in order to gain access to internal documents and curriculum, which he then posted to his own website criticizing the nonprofit.

Attempts to “reason” with the defendant were apparently met with a snarky meme response, usually a great way to escalate a legal dispute. The defendant allegedly then made a false DMCA Counter Notice, leading directly to this lawsuit. Stay tuned to find out whether the defendant is willing to defend his position that “it’s called fair use bitch.”

LifeWise, Inc. v. Parrish

Court Case Number: 1:24-cv-00268-HAB-SLC
File Date: July 2, 2024
Plaintiff: LifeWise, Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Joseph P. Asbrook, Chris-John Bosch, James S. Kresge of Ashbrook Byrne Kresge LLC
Defendant: Zachary Parrish
Cause: Federal Copyright Infringement
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Holly A. Brady
Referred To: Susan L. Collins

Complaint:

Fort Wayne Printing Company sues FortWaynePrintShop.com for Trademark Infringement, Dilution

01 Monday Apr 2024

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

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Fort Wayne Printing Company has performed printing and related services in Northeast Indiana since 1902. They have a pending federal trademark application for FORT WAYNE that successfully passed its 30-day publication window on March 28, 2024. One day later, Fort Wayne Printing Company filed a federal trademark lawsuit in Indiana against a company using the domain FortWaynePrintShop.com.

The defendant, Allen & Goel Marketing Company, has been using the domain name fortwayneprintshop.com to advertise printing and related services. When attempting to purchase services at the domain, it redirects to their primary website, http://www.printshopnation.com.

It’s possible that the marketing company directly targeted Fort Wayne Printing Company in purchasing the FortWaynePrintShop.com domain. However, they may have just purchased a bunch of geographically descriptive domains (i.e. “[cityname]printshop.com) and didn’t check whether any of those names corresponded to a pre-existing company. In the latter scenario, you might expect them to simply give up the domain without incurring a federal lawsuit. By not relinquishing the domain, it could be an indication that this particular geographic domain is especially profitable for them. Further, the FortWaynePrintShop.com domain was first created on 11/11/2011 and the Internet Archive first captured the website in May 2013, so the defendant might have a valid acquiescence or laches defense.

Apparently unable to resolve this situation with normal cease-and-desist communications, probably due to the 10+ years use of the domain name, the plaintiff now seeks court intervention in the Northern District of Indiana. The fact that the lawsuit was filed one day after the trademark application’s publication window closed may indicate that the defendant was never contacted, in order to not tip them off to the application status. Either way, stay tuned for updates.

Optical Tactics, LLC d/b/a Fort Wayne Printing Company v. Allen & Goel Marketing Company

Court Case Number: 1:24-cv-00134-HAB-SLC
File Date: March 29, 2024
Plaintiff: Optical Tactics, LLC d/b/a Fort Wayne Printing Company
Plaintiff Counsel:
Defendant: Allen & Goes Marketing Company
Cause: Federal Trademark Infringement, Federal False Designation of Origin, Federal Passing Off, Federal Unfair Competition, Trademark Dilution, Common Law Trademark Infringement, Common Law Unfair Competition, Injunctive Relief
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Holly A. Brady
Referred To: Susan L. Collins

Complaint:

Photography Lawsuit filed in Indiana over “Plaster falling off the ceiling”

06 Monday Nov 2023

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

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I’m amazed that I still have to say this but, businesses, stop using Google Images to find photos for your website.

Here’s another copyright lawsuit where the defendant, this time an insurance adjuster from Merrillville, Indiana, apparently used a professional photographer’s photograph in an online advertisement without permission. The photograph, descriptively titled “Plaster falling off the ceiling” (see Complaint below) was apparently used by the defendant in the background of an advertisement for insurance claims for poorly installed stucco.

I’m guessing that the defendant simply found the photograph via Google Search, perhaps with a search for the exact title, and unwittingly put the photograph in background of their advertisement. Note that the registrant of the insurance adjuster’s website was also named as a defendant. If they were also the website developer, they might have some direct responsibility for the content of the website and use of the plaintiff’s photograph.

Usually these lawsuits can be settled quickly but stay tuned to see whether the defendant can assert any creative defenses or explanations. Stay tuned for updates.

Radic v. AllCity Adjusting LLC et al

Court Case Number: 1:23-cv-00468-HAB-SLC
File Date: November 3, 2023
Plaintiff: Ivan Radic
Plaintiff Counsel: J. Campbell Miller, Evan A. Andersen of SRIPLAW, P.A.
Defendants: AllCity Adjuster LLC, Zor Development LLC
Cause: Copyright Infringement, Removal of Copyright Management Information, Addition of False Copyright Management Information
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Holly A. Brady
Referred To: Susan L. Collins

Complaint:

False Advertising Lawsuit filed in Indiana over Paint Roller Cleaners

21 Tuesday Feb 2023

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

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Paint roller cleaners are the subject of the latest Indiana false advertising and trademark lawsuit. More specifically, the lawsuit involves the alleged behavior of defendants that held out a plaintiff’s product as their own while actually selling competing product.

The plaintiff is Roller Ready, LLC of Fort Wayne, Indiana, owner of trademark and patent rights in a ROLLER READY product that cleans paint rollers.

In 2021, Roller Ready agreed to let an individual promote their product at the 2021 National Hardware Show. However, the product was apparently promoted under the brand of another company, Monkey Rung. The product won an award and all resulting recognitions went to Monkey Rung rather than Roller Ready.

Online links about the Roller Ready product point to Monkey Rung’s website with a competing product. Monkey Rung controls, and seemingly won’t relinquish, an Amazon listing for the Roller Ready product. Monkey Rung even listed the Roller Ready product on its own website’s Product Portfolio (see Complaint below).

The defendants are accused of intentionally misleading the public and degrading Roller Ready’s goodwill. Defendants act as if they own the Roller Ready product, so maybe they think they do. There are often two sides to a story, so stay tuned for what will likely be an interesting Answer. The defendants are not from Indiana, so first there could be some jurisdictional challenges.

Roller Ready, LLC v. LA Systems, LLC d/b/a Monkey Rung et al.

Court Case Number: 1:23-cv-00068-HAB-SLC
File Date: February 14, 2023
Plaintiff: Roller Ready, LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Benjamin D. Ice of Barrett McNagny LLP
Defendant: LA Systems, LLC d/b/a Monkey Rung, Paul Kiley
Cause: False Advertising, False Marking, Indiana Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Federal Trademark Infringement
Court: Northern District of Indiana
Judge: Holly A. Brady
Referred To: Susan L. Collins

Complaint: