Flava Works, Inc. v. Gunter d/b/a myVidster.com, No. 10 C 6517 Slip. Op. (N.D. Ill. Sep. 1, 2011) (Grady, J.).
Judge Grady denied defendant’s motion to reconsider its preliminary injunction, for the following reasons:
· The Court addressed defendant’s arguments even though they “could and should have been” brought in the original briefing.
· Defendants’ argument was too narrow. Someone who linked the copyrighted material can be a direct infringer. The alleged direct infringement of defendant’s customers, therefore, can be true whether the myVidster owner saved the copyrighted file or embedded a link to it.
Continue Reading Reconsideration Motion Denied After Careful Consideration
Injunctions
No Injunction Where Products Are Sold in Different Channels
Akoo Int’l, Inc. v. Harris, No. 10 C 1685 Slip. Op. (N.D. Ill. Sep. 9, 2011) (Coleman, J.).
Judge Coleman denied plaintiff Akoo International (“AI”) a preliminary injunction to prevent rapper Clifford Harris from using the Akoo mark for his clothing line. The Court held that AI had not shown a sufficient likelihood of confusion:
· AI’s advertising system was very different than Harris’ clothing line.
· The parties sold in different channels.
· There was no evidence that Harris began using the mark to confuse AI’s customers.
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Continue Reading No Injunction Where Products Are Sold in Different Channels
“Conclusory” Arguments are Fatal to Preliminary Injunction
EnVerve, Inc. v. Unger Meat Co., No 11 C. 472, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Apr. 26, 2011) (Castillo, J.).
Judge Castillo denied plaintiff EnVerve’s motion for preliminary injunction in this copyright infringement action involving advertisements. The Court first held that EnVerve had only shown a minimal likelihood of success on the merits:
EnVerve’s arguments were “very conclusory” and that “brevity [was] fatal.”
There was a significant dispute regarding who owned the copyrights based upon a contract between the parties.
EnVerve’s evidence of copying was an unsupported conclusion that defendant use constituted copying.
EnVerve failed to address defendant’s best argument – that EnVerve’s claim sounded in contract, not copyright.
The Court also held that there was no irreparable harm:
Money damages were an adequate remedy and were readily calculable based upon the contract, EnVerve’s invoices and defendant’s payments.
EnVerve’s claims are reputational harm and defendant’s potential insolvency were too speculative to be considered irreparable harm.
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Continue Reading “Conclusory” Arguments are Fatal to Preliminary Injunction
Preliminary Injunction Not Warranted for Unenforceable Non-Compete Clause
Peerless Indus., Inc. v. Crimson AV, LLC, No. 11 C 1768, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jun. 10, 2011) (Lefkow, J.).
Judge Lefkow denied plaintiff Peerless’ motion for a preliminary injunction in this patent and tortious interference case involving audio-visual mount equipment. Peerless had a manufacturing agreement with Sycamore Manufacturing (“Sycamore”) which was terminated no later than March 2010. The agreement included a non-compete clause that prevented Sycamore from selling the products it made for Peerless or any similar products, with a very broad definition of similarity. After the March 2010 termination and before the end of the non-compete term, in March 2011, Sycamore began selling similar products to defendant Crimson. The Court held that Peerless had “negligible” likelihood of success because the non-compete clause was likely unenforceable because it was broader than necessary to protect Peerless’ interests. The scope of similar products was far too broad. The scope should have been limited to substantially similar products. Additionally, the definition of similar products was “unworkably difficult to determine.”
Peerless also could not show irreparable harm. As an initial matter, the non-compete term had ended before the date this Opinion issued. An injunction barring Crimson from selling product the agreement now allowed it to sell would have improperly extended the term of the non-compete. Additionally, because the alleged unauthorized sales were complete, the damages were readily quantifiable.
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Continue Reading Preliminary Injunction Not Warranted for Unenforceable Non-Compete Clause
Attempts to Resolve Dispute Do Not Prevent a Preliminary Injunction
Flava Works, Inc. v. Gunter d/b/a myVidster.com, No. 10 C 6517, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jul. 27, 2011) (Grady, J.).
Judge Grady granted plaintiff Flava Works’ motion for a preliminary injunction in this copyright case involving adult movies, and ordered the parties to confer on language for the preliminary injunction. Defendants’ myVidster website is a “social video bookmarking” site which allows users to post or link to video content. When a user posts or links to the content, myVidster crawls the website hosting the video to gather data about the video, creates a thumbnail image of the video and embeds the video on the myVidster site.
Likelihood of Success
The Court held that there was a likelihood of success on at least Flava Works’ contributory copyright infringement claim. It could not be “seriously disputed” that third parties have directly infringed Flava Work’s works by posting video content on myVidster. And defendants knew or should have known about the infringement based upon Flava Works’ seven DMCA take down notices outlining instances of the infringement to defendants. In fact, the email exchanges surrounding the notices show that defendants were not cooperative in addressing the notices. And myVidster’s repeat infringer policy was the “epitome” of willful blindness. Furthermore, there was significant evidence that defendants encouraged the infringement. For example, myVidster encouraged sharing of video content without warning of potential copyright infringement issues.
Defendants were not protected by the DMCA’s safe harbor provision. A threshold requirement for safe harbor is that a party adopt and reasonably implement a policy providing for termination of users that are repeat infringers. Defendants policy did not require or directly provide for termination of repeat infringers. And defendants did not consider copyright infringement to be part of the defintion of “infringer.”
Irreparable Harm
Defendants failed to rebut the presumption of irreparable harm in copyright cases. Flava Works’ did not delay in bringing the suit and then the injunction motion. Prior to filing suit, Flava Works attempted to resolve the issue with several DMCA take down notices and the Court would not penalize Flava Works for attempting to avoid litigation.
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Continue Reading Attempts to Resolve Dispute Do Not Prevent a Preliminary Injunction
No Presumption of Irreparable Harm From Breach of a Non-Compete
E.B.N. Enters., Inc. v. C.L. Creative Images, Inc., No. 09 C 6279, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Mar. 28, 2011) (Coleman, J.)
Judge Coleman granted in part plaintiff’s (“Fantastic Sams”) preliminary injunction motion in this case involving a non-compete agreement related to a terminated Fantastic Sams hair salon franchise. The Court granted a preliminary injunction regarding Fantastic Sams’ operations manual which defendants were contractually required to return to Fantastic Sams. The Court denied the remainder of the requested injunction. Fantastic Sams alleged that defendant’s decision to operate a new salon at the same location breached the two-year requirement that defendants not operate a salon within five miles of the prior Fantastic Sams location. Fantastic Sams made an uncontested showing that defendants breached that agreement. But Fantastic Sams did not sufficiently show irreparable harm. There is no question of irreparable harm from breach of a non-compete agreement. Fantastic Sams did not ever show that another franchise wanted defendants’ territory. Finally, there was no evidence that defendants’ customers continued using defendants because of features unique to Fantastic Sams.
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Continue Reading No Presumption of Irreparable Harm From Breach of a Non-Compete
Presumed Harm Not Enough for Injunction Where Plaintiff shows Little Likelihood of Success
Kastaris v. Eggstacy LLC, No. 10 C 35614917, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Oct. 20, 2010) (Gilbert, Mag. J.).
Judge Gilbert denied plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction in this Lanham Act matter. Plaintiffs claimed infringement of its Yolk trademark for a breakfast restaurant by defendants’ New Yolk New Yolk (“NYNY”) breakfast restaurant. Yolk was not generic when used to describe restaurants, although it was generic for the center of an egg.
Plaintiff did not show a likelihood of success on the merits. First, the marks were dissimilar both visually and aurally. While both marks use “Yolk”, NYNY is intended to invoke New York, New York.
Second, the area and manner of use is not concurrent. Yolk is in downtown Chicago, while NYNY is in the western suburbs of Chicago. Third, based upon strong reviews for both sets of restaurants, consumer were likely to exercise reasonable care in choosing to dine at either restaurant. Fourth, plaintiff had established a Chicago-area reputation for Yolk, giving the trademark some weight. Fifth, plaintiff alleged evidence of actual confusion was not supported by sufficient evidence. Sixth, defendant knew about Yolk before opening NYNY, but there was no evidence showing passing off. NYNY’s theme was clearly New York City, and Yolk’s was not.
Balancing the factor, the Court held that plaintiffs did not have greater than negligible chances of showing likelihood of confusion. Plaintiffs were, therefore, required to show a proportionally larger irreparable harm, the presumption of irreparable harm in Lanham Act cases was not alone sufficient. Because of the significant harm to defendant in changing its name, a preliminary injunction was not appropriate.
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Continue Reading Presumed Harm Not Enough for Injunction Where Plaintiff shows Little Likelihood of Success
Preliminary Injunction Denied Because of Noninfringement Evidence
Viskase Cos., Inc. v. World Pac Int’l. AG, No. 09 C 5022, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Aug. 9, 2010) (Bucklo, J.).
Judge Bucklo denied defendants’ motion for preliminary injunction based upon World Pac’s patent infringement counterclaim regarding impermeable sausage casings. Viskase’s research and design documents referenced “World Pac knock-off[s],” “World Pac replacement[s]” and “World Pac me-too” products. The key infringement issue was whether Viskase’s accused casings were “impermeable” as that term was construed by the Court. The parties set up a “classic battle of the experts” with competing testing disputing whether the accused sausage casing allowed a measurable weight loss, and therefore was permeable. While a jury would ultimately have to weigh the evidence, Viskase presented “more than insubstantial evidence” that the accused casings lost measurable weight. And Viskase’s testing was done outside of litigation, lending it additional credibility. World Pac also failed to present sufficient evidence regarding loss of flavor and taste, the other “impermeable” characteristics. Viskase, therefore, raised a substantial noninfringement question. Furthermore, World Pac did not put forth sufficient evidence to warrant a preliminary injunction. Because Viskase raised a substantial question regarding noninfringement, the Court declined to examine Viskase’s other defenses or the other element of a preliminary injunction.
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Continue Reading Preliminary Injunction Denied Because of Noninfringement Evidence
Court Enters Preliminary Injunction as to Plaintiff’s “Lettuce” Marks
Lettuce Entertain You Enters., Inc. v. Leila Sophie AR, LLC, No. 09 CV 2582, Slip. Op. (N.D. Ill. Feb. 26, 2010), (Lefkow, J.).
Judge Lefkow granted plaintiff Lettuce Entertain You (“LEYE”) a preliminary injunction against defendants’ use of the name “Lettuce Mix” in their salad bar restaurant in Lincoln Park. LEYE argued that the defendants’ “Lettuce Mix” name would infringe its family of “Lettuce” marks for use in restaurant services.
Likelihood of Success
LEYE’s Lettuce marks were not generic as used for restaurant services. While some of LEYE’s meals included lettuce, LEYE was not in the business of lettuce sales. And defendant’s intent to use its Lettuce Mix name was sufficient for use in commerce.
The Court held there was a likelihood of confusion. Both parties marks focus upon “lettuce” and use it as a pun for “let us.” This is true even though LEYE’s logo, which includes a waiter opening a covered a dish was different from defendant’s logo. Additionally the parties’ services in the restaurant industry were similar.
Both parties used the marks in the same area and manner. They directly compete for restaurant customers, and at least one of LEYE’S 70 restaurants is within one mile of Lettuce Mix. To the extent both parties cater to patrons seeking inexpensive, casual meals, the patrons are assumed to use a lesser degree of care, even though some of LEYE’s restaurants are more expensive.
LEYE’s family of Lettuce markers was strong, and defendants’ argument to the contrary was their genericness argument that the Court previously denied.
LEYE, however, did not provide evidence of actual confusion, although actual confusion is not required. And there was no evidence that defendants intended to pass themselves off as affiliated with LEYE. Finally, defendants’ was not a fair use because lettuce was not descriptive of their service.
Irreparable Harm
Trademark infringements are presumed to result in irreparable harm. LEYE would, therefore, have been irreparably harmed by any trademark infringement from defendants.
Balancing Harm
Defendants would not suffer significant harm from the injunction given that they had already stopped using the allegedly infringing name. And any loss of defendants’ goodwill would be attributable to their own actions.
Public Interest
The public interest would not be harmed by the preliminary injunction. Enforcement of trademarks serves the public good, and LEYE had shown a “substantial” likelihood of confusion.
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Continue Reading Court Enters Preliminary Injunction as to Plaintiff’s “Lettuce” Marks
Close Balance of Harms Prevents TRO, but Expedited Discovery Granted
Scala’s Original Beef & Sausage Co., LLC v. Alvarez d/b/a Michaelangelo Foods, No. 09 C 7353 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 22, 2009 (Dow, J).
Judge Dow denied plaintiff Scala’s motion for a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) in this Lanham Act case regarding Scala’s and Scala’s Preferred marks for giardiniera.
Likelihood of Success
Scala’s made a “fairly strong showing” that defendants’ (collectively “Michaelangelo Foods”) labels using the marks were likely to cause consumer confusion. Scala’s also met its burden to show some likelihood of success that its trademark license to Michaelangelo Foods was terminable at will, even though the license lacked a termination provision. Finally, Scala’s showed some likelihood of success as to its argument that licensee estoppel barred Michaelangelo Foods’ challenges to Scala’s marks. The Court noted, however, that at the early stages of the litigation it appeared that Michaelangelo Foods might be able to overcome licensee estoppel upon equitable grounds.
Irreparable Harm
Irreparable harm is presumed in trademark cases, and Michaelangelo Foods did not challenge the presumption. Instead, Michaelangelo Foods argued that Scala’s harm was not sufficiently immediate because Scala’s was not selling competing products. But the fact that Scala’s did not make a product, did not eliminate the harm. Scala’s was harmed by not being able to control Michaelangelo Foods’ quality. Additionally, Scala’s was using the marks with other products.
But the Court noted that the facts of this case mitigated the strength of Scala’s irreparable harm. In particular, Scala’s licensed the marks at least in part because Scala’s was unable to consistently pay suppliers or deliver products to its customers. And Michaelangelo Foods took substantial steps to fix those relationships, thereby enhancing the marks’ value.
Balance of Harm
The Court held that Michaelangelo Foods would be harmed by a TRO. A TRO would allow the sale of existing inventory, but individual defendant invested a significant portion of his savings into the business and the business had relatively low profits. A TRO would, therefore, likely do substantial damage to Michaelangelo Foods’ finances. This financial harm combined with Michaelangelo Foods’ efforts to rebuild the marks and the business tipped the balance of harm in Michaelangelo Foods’ favor.
Conclusion
While it was a close call, the Court denied a TRO. In view of the importance of a decision to both parties, the Court set an expedited discovery, briefing and hearing schedule for Scala’s preliminary injunction motion.
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Continue Reading Close Balance of Harms Prevents TRO, but Expedited Discovery Granted