Airoom LLC v. Demi & Cooper, Inc., No. 09 C 4205, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jan. 5, 2011) (Gottschall, J.).
Judge Gottschall granted defendants’ Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. Plaintiff Airoom accused defendants of infringing its trademarks, as well as related state law claims. Defendants, who were creating and hosting Airoom’s website, stopped when Airoom refused to pay amounts allegedly due pursuant to the parties’ contract hosting the site, causing website visitors to be directed to a generic "text page."
Airoom claimed Lanham Act violations based upon defendants’ decision not to continue hosting the site. Based upon the "artful pleading" doctrine, the Court held that Airoom’s claims sounded in copyright, not the Lanham Act. The Court, therefore, lacked federal question jurisdiction. And because all parties were Illinois residents, there could not be diversity jurisdiction. Airoom’s case was, therefore, dismissed.