Tag Archives: Unjust Enrichment

Indiana Trademark Litigation Update – Net Pro Trading Card Company, LLC v. Ace Authentic Sports memorabilia, LLC

11 Monday Oct 2010

Posted by in Intellectual Property

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Net Pro Trading Card Company, LLC v. Ace Authentic Sports memorabilia, LLC et al

Interesting case. Plaintiff Net Pro was apparently the first company to make tennis trading cards way back in 1991. Defendant also makes tennis trading cards. As part of a recent promo series, Defendant has been packaging its own cards along with older, more valuable cards of Plaintiff (e.g. a Plaintiff 2003 rookie card of Rafa Nadal, etc.) Plaintiff feels Defendant’s actions have damaged its ability to sell its own stock of older cards. Kind of a flea-market, “first sale,” nominative fair use case. Despite Plaintiff including such colorful claims as “Deception” the “Indiana Crime Victims’ Act,” I don’t think this case is an easy slam…it could definitely go 5 sets with the proper defense.

Court Case Number: 1:10-cv-01236-JMS-TAB
File Date: Thursday, September 30, 2010
Plaintiff: Net Pro Trading Card Company, LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Theodore John Minch of Sovich Minch LLP
Defendant: Ace Authentic Sports memorabilia, LLC, John Reichel
Cause: Trademark Infringement, False Endorsement, False Advertising, Common Law Unfair Competition, Unjust Enrichment, Conversion, Deception, Indiana Crime Victims’ Act
Court: Southern District of Indiana
Judge: Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson
Referred To: Magistrate Judge Tim A. Baker

Indiana Copyright Litigation Update – Saturday Evening Post Society v. Hungry Howie’s Pizza & Subs

15 Tuesday Jun 2010

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

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Indianapolis-based Curtis Publishing Co. has sued a Michigan-based chain of pizza restaurants for copyright infringement.

The suit, filed June 3 in federal court in Indianapolis, accused Hungry Howie’s Pizza & Subs Inc. of Madison Heights, Michigan, of infringing the copyright to a Saturday Evening Post cover first published in 1943. The cover, “Freedom from Want,” is by the late Norman Rockwell, and features the image of a family at a Thanksgiving dinner as a large roast turkey is being brought to the table.

Curtis accused the pizza chain of using the Rockwell painting in an “unauthorized, multistate advertising campaign, according to court papers. The ads, which began in November 2009, featured a “precise mimicry of the various nuances” of the Rockwell painting,” with the alteration of replacing the turkey with a pizza, Curtis said in its complaint.

Despite having been sent a cease-and-desist letter and “numerous other communications,” the pizza chain continued to use this advertisement throughout the 2009 winter holiday season, according to court papers.

The publisher is represented by Jonathan Faber, Kyle M. Baker and Cynthia A. Bedrick of McNeely Stephenson Thopy & Harrold of Shelbyville, Indiana.

The case is Saturday Evening Post Society Inc. v. Hungry Howie’s Pizza & Subs Inc., 1:10-cv-00680-LJM-DML, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis).

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek