Trademark Law Briefs

Fiji Water Co., LLC v. Fiji Mineral Water USA, LLC, 741 F.Supp.2d 1165 (C.D. Cal, 2010)

The plaintiff (the company behind the well known Fiji Water) sued defendant for trade dress infringement based on their competing water, also bottled in Fiji.  Defendant, who had sold its water under another name in a different style of packaging prior to joining the US market, recently adopted a blue, square bottle, with transparent labeling similar to that used by Plaintiff.  Plaintiff, who has received design awards for its packaging, sought a preliminary injunction.  After doing a detailed analysis of the packaging and its aesthetic rather than utilitarian properties, the court granted the injunction.

Consumerinfor.com, Inc. v. Money Management International, Inc., 374 Fed.Appx. 696 (9th Cir. 2010)  *unpublished*

The district court granted summary judgment to plaintiff who brought an infringement suit against defendant.  The Court of Appeals agreed that there was no dispute of facts that defendant’s mark was confusingly similar and that plaintiff’s mark was valid and protectable.  However, the Court disagreed with the district court’s finding that there was no triable issue of fact on defendant’s claim of prior use. The district court engaged in weighing the evidence when it discounted evidence presented by the defendant in support of its claim.  Therefore, the Court reversed and remanded the partial grant of summary judgment.

Signorelli, Inc. v. OmniPeace, Inc., et al., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105636 (C.D. Cal., 2010)

Plaintiff sued Defendant in state court for breach of contract based on a licensing agreement involving Defendant’s trademark registrations.  Defendant sought to remove the action to federal court based on the fact that the trademarks are federally registered.  The court denied removal because Plaintiff’s claims do not arise under federal trademark law and because Plaintiff’s claims do not require resolution of a federal trademark question.  Just because state claims involve a federal trademark, it does not mean federal jurisdiction is created.