Golden Golf Lighting, Inc. v. Greenwich Indus., L.P., No. 07 C 1086, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jun. 18, 2010) (Andersen, J.).

Judge Andersen denied defendant Clarin’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a), 9(b) and 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss this Lanham Act case regarding Clarin’s allegedly fraudulent procurement of a trademark related to folding seats.

First, 15 U.S.C. § 1120 limited recovery to injuries sustained "in consequence" of a trademark registered by fraud or false reasons. The damages need not be to a trademark, as Clarin argued. Plaintiff’s alleged damage because its folding chairs were seized at the U.S. border based upon alleged infringement of Clarin’s trademark and plaintiffs allegedly lost business based upon the seizure. Those facts were sufficient to plead that Clarin was the proximate cause of plaintiff’s alleged damages.

Plaintiffs pled fraud with sufficient particularity by incorporating by reference the fraud-related decision in Specialized Seating v. Greenwich Indus., L.P., 472 F.Supp. 2d 999 (N.D. Ill. 1999). Finally, Plaintiffs did not violate Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a) or 8(d)(1) by combining two claims into a single count. Notice pleading did not require separate headings for each claim.