A permanent injunction preventing an ex-band member from touring as “The Commodores featuring Thomas McClary” extended extrajudicially to European performances. In a long-running dispute in which Commodores Entertainment Corp. (CEC) has repeatedly prevailed in its efforts to stop former Commodores member Thomas McClary from using the “Commodores” name in musical performances, the U.S. Court of…
The existence of a contractual relationship between the two parties was not a prerequisite to the power of the district court to adjudicate the breach of contract claim. Whether the assignment of a trademark for a brand of children’s products was valid was a question of contractual standing rather than Article III standing, the U.S….
Seller’s appeal of district court’s judgment against it was frivolous because its arguments had virtually no likelihood of success, and the appeal seemingly was pursued for purposes of delay. In a trademark infringement suit between the maker of the dietary supplement Prevagen against an Internet seller for the unauthorized and unlawful sale of Prevagen products,…
While it is appropriate for a district court to adopt the findings of fact of a magistrate judge’s report and recommendations when deciding a motion for a preliminary injunction, it cannot do so when deciding a motion for summary judgment. A district court’s summary judgment order ruling that a vacation tour company violated the Anti-Cybersquatting…
The preliminary injunction was vacated, however, with respect to products the licensee held in inventory and that the mark owner did not seek to repurchase under the parties’ license agreement. A former licensee’s continued use of various marks for science toys after the license expired was likely to cause consumer confusion, the U.S. Court of…
The business owner’s purported plans to expand to the United States market were vague and conclusory, and his filing of a U.S. trademark application had little bearing on his ability to expand his business to the United States. A Manhattan federal district court did not err in dismissing a Thai resident’s declaratory judgment action seeking…
Evidence supported the finding that marks owned by the operator of the San Diego Comic Convention were not generic, and litigation misconduct by the defendant supported a $3.9 million attorney fee award. In the long-running trademark dispute between the operator of the well-known San Diego Comic Convention and a competitor that ran a similarly named…
Expired utility patent described the advantages of product configuration trade dress for “a beveled scalloped upper edge of a metal fastener.” The federal district court in Chicago properly determined trade dress for the design of conveyer belt fasteners owned by Flexible Steel Lacing Company (Flexco) was invalid as functional and could not be asserted against…
There is no per se rule providing that dismissal without prejudice of claims involving a fee-shifting statute such as the Lanham Act necessarily causes a defendant to suffer legal prejudice from being denied an opportunity to seek attorney fees. Defendants in case brought by a pet toy maker did not suffer legal harm by the…
Interactive website’s option allowing customers to select Illinois as “ship-to” destination for defendant’s supplement products was among factors cited in reversal of district court’s dismissal of trademark infringement claims. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago has reversed the dismissal of Lanham Act and state law claims for lack of personal jurisdiction, finding that defendant…
