Trademark Law Briefs

Guru Denim, Inc. v. Hayes, 2010 U.S.Dist. LEXIS 52992 (C.D. Cal. 2010)

Plaintiff filed suit against defendant for allegedly selling a counterfeit “hoodie” bearing plaintiff’s trademark.  Plaintiff failed to prosecute the case diligently- letting it linger for 16 months before seeking a default (which defendant overcame based on questions of appropriate service) and then, at the pretrial conference, complained for the first time of defendant’s failure to participate in discovery and sought a continuance.  The court issued an order to show cause why plaintiff should not be sanctioned.  Plaintiff then informed the court that plaintiff’s counsel had misplaced the allegedly infringing hoodie.  As sanctions, the court dismissed the case with prejudicie, awarded defendant costs as the prevailing party, and sanctioned plaintiff’s counsel for the expenses incurred by defendant in attending the pretrial conference and sanctions hearing (defendant could not be awarded attorneys fees because he appeared pro se).

Yash Raj Films (USA), Inc. v. Daljit Singh Sidhu, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25988 (E.D. Cal. 2010)

Plaintiff has the right to distribute Indian films in the United States.  Defendant admitted to copyright infringement in a criminal suit as to 4 of Plaintiff’s titles.  Photographs of the infringing DVDs bore Plaintiff’s trademark.  Plaintiff sought summary judgment as to infringement of 32 of plaintiff’s titles seized from Defendant as part of the criminal investigation based on defendant’s admissions.  Defendant, in the civil action, denied infringement.  The court granted summary judgment as to the 4 titles identified in the plea bargain and awarded plaintiff statutory damages and attorneys fees. (more…)

Coach, Inc. v. Abner’s Fashion, et al., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121761 (C.D. Cal. 2009)

The court granted summary judgment to Coach in a case of counterfeit goods.  The defendants were unable to raise any triable issue of fact that the goods were not infringing.

Coach, Inc. v. Asia Pacific Trading Company, et al. 2009 US Dist. LEXIS 110903 (N.D. Cal. 2009)

Plaintiff Coach, Inc. sued Defendant Sunglass Experts, Inc. for selling counterfeit goods.  Plaintiff sought summary judgment on the issue of counterfeiting.  Defendant sought summary judgment to limit damages.  The court granted summary judgment in part for Plaintiff and entirely for Defendant (more…)

Symantec Corporation v. Logical Plus, Inc. et al., 2009 US Dist. 97447 (ND Cal. 2009)

The court granted plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment for trademark and copyright infringement against defendants who sold counterfeit Norton software products.  Court denied summary judgment against defendants who provided may have provided webhosting and e-mail addresses for defendant sellers use.  There was not sufficient evidence of contributory infringement for summary judgment.