South Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Because the court’s preliminary injunction does not impede the defendant-attorney’s ability to practice law—it only prohibits him from infringing on his father’s firm’s trademarks—the injunction does not implicate South Carolina Rule of Professional Conduct 5.6. The court grants plaintiff’s motion ...
Read More »Intellectual Property – Trademark Infringement – Attorneys – Civil Practice – Preliminary Injunction – Appeals – Stay Motions – Arbitration
Intellectual Property Case not ‘exceptional’ under Lanham Act 
Where the district court’s conclusions that one party was prevailing and that this case was “exceptional” under the Lanham Act were both rejected, an award of attorneys’ fees was reversed. Background Citi Trends Inc. filed a declaratory judgement action against ...
Read More »Intellectual Property Copyright – Civil Practice – Declaratory Judgment – Trusts & Estates – James Brown Compositions
Plaintiffs allege that defendant Hynie has entered into an agreement which violates provisions of the Copyright Act, circumventing plaintiffs’ statutory interests while enhancing Hynie’s compensation. Plaintiffs’ allegations are sufficient to state a claim for a declaratory judgment. Defendants’ motion to ...
Read More »Intellectual Property Failure to disclose license for trademark was sanctionable
Where a company licensed the use of a trademark without disclosing that the company itself was under a license to use that mark, and failed to disclose the license at any point during the discovery process, barring the company from ...
Read More »Intellectual Property Trademark Infringement – Civil Practice – Preliminary Injunction – Attorneys
A son, who has the same name as his father (except for the “Jr.” designation), and who is in the same business – personal injury law – may not use marks that are confusingly similar to those that the father ...
Read More »Intellectual Property—Posting photo on website to promote film festival was not fair use
A company’s use of a photograph to highlight nearby tourist attractions on a website promoting a for-profit film festival did not constitute fair use because the use was not transformative and was for commercial purposes, the photographer was entitled to ...
Read More »Intellectual Property – Trademark & Trade Dress Infringement – Civil Practice – Statute of Limitations – Laches – Unfair Trade Practices
Plaintiff’s claims – that defendants copied plaintiff’s marketing scheme, trade dress, and product, and even repackaged plaintiff’s salt-scrub product and sold it as their own – were known to plaintiff, at the latest, by 2012. Plaintiff’s 2017 complaint is ...
Read More »Intellectual Property – Booking.com entitled to trademark
Where the government failed to demonstrate that booking.com was a generic term that could not be trademarked, and Booking.com demonstrated that the descriptive term has gained a secondary meaning, the website is entitled to a trademark. Background Booking.com operates a ...
Read More »Intellectual Property – True statement prompts dismissal of Lanham Act claim
Liberty Counsel, an organization dedicated to advancing Christian causes, sued GuideStar, a nonprofit organization that maintains an extensive online directory of profiles on other nonprofits, after GuideStar reported the Southern Poverty Law Center had designated Liberty as a hate group. ...
Tagged with: Lanham Act
Read More »Intellectual Property – Trademark – State & Federal Marks – Episcopal Church – Civil Practice – Statute of Limitations – Claim & Issue Preclusion
In a related state-court case, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a split decision, with Justices Pleicones and Hearn ruling to reverse the trial court regarding the state registered trademarks, and Chief Justice Beatty, in the controlling opinion, leaving the ...
Tagged with: Trademark
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