By: James Kachmar

The Ninth Circuit recently addressed the availability of a wide variety of damages in a trademark infringement case. In Skydive Arizona, Inc. v. Quattrocchi  (2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 5100), the Court analyzed the various types of damages that are available to litigants in a trademark infringement action.

Skydive Arizona, Inc. (“Skydive”) operates one of the largest skydiving operations in the world.  Defendants operated an internet and telephone based advertising service which made skydiving arrangements for its customers as well as offered coupons for various skydiving centers.  Defendants operated several internet domain names that were strikingly similar to Skydive’s trademark and apparently falsely advertised that it was the owner of several skydiving centers in Arizona.  In addition, Defendants sold skydiving certificates that allegedly misled customers into believing that Skydive Arizona would accept them for their skydiving center.

Continue Reading Skydiving and Trademark Infringement Damages

By: Zachary Wadlé

On April 14, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio, iconic rock band Guns N’ Roses will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  The induction comes 25 years after original members Axl Rose (lead vocals), Saul Hudson aka “Slash” (lead guitar), Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar), Duff McKagan (bass), and Steven Adler (drums) released their debut album, Appetite for Destruction, which sold more than 28 million copies worldwide and ranks as the best-selling debut album ever.  After a meteoric rise in popularity, the original lineup began to break up in the early 1990’s due to problems with substance abuse by various band-members and acrimonious infighting over the creative direction of the group.  This ultimately led to Axl Rose gaining sole control of all Guns N’ Roses intellectual property and its musical catalog, but also becoming estranged from the original members.  Today, Rose tours as Guns N’ Roses along with a group of new musicians who perform many of the band’s original tunes, along with the band’s new material from its most recent album, Chinese Democracy.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees traditionally perform a short set during the induction ceremony.  In years past, long-separated bands such as The Police and The Eagles have put aside their differences during the ceremony for a one-time-only reunion performance.  News of Guns N’ Roses’ induction has naturally produced speculation that the original lineup may reunite for the ceremony, which would be a highly anticipated event among the 30 and 40-something rock music crowd.  The only stumbling block appears to be continued animosity between Rose and Slash, which has resulted in multiple public spats and lawsuits over the years. 

Continue Reading All we need is just a little (more) patience — Sync license dispute threatens to derail any hope of Guns N’ Roses Reunion Show

 

Congratulations to our clients, executive producers Jason Hervey and Eric Bischoff, on Nick At Nite’s pick up order of twenty episodes of the network’s first original scripted comedy pilot, Daddy’s Home, starring Scott Baio.

For the full story, please click the link  to visit Deadline Hollywood:  http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/nick-at-night-picks-up-scott-baio-family-comedy-to-series/

By: David Muradyan

 

Restaurants, bars, night clubs and similar establishments who play copyrighted music or have live performers play the compositions from copyrighted music should pay particular attention to a recent Ninth Circuit case, where the court awarded plaintiffs statutory damages as well as substantial attorney’s fees.

In Range Road Music, Inc. et al. v. East Coast Foods, Inc. et al., 10-55691, 2012 WL 502510 (9th Cir. 2012), several music companies (“Music Companies”) who owned copyrights to certain songs and who were members of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (“ASCAP”) sued East Coast Foods, Inc. and its principal shareholder and sole officer and director, Herbert Hudson, for copyright infringement arising out of musical performances of eight copyrighted works at one of East Coast’s locations. (ASCAP is a performing rights society that licenses the music of its members and collects royalties whenever that music is performed publicly). East Coast owned and operated the Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles chain of restaurants in Southern California, including the Long Beach, California location. Shortly after the Long Beach location opened and for a period of seven years thereafter, ASCAP contacted East Coast to offer it a license to perform music by ASCAP members, but East Coast refused. As a result, ASCAP engaged Scott Greene, an independent investigator to visit the location and investigate whether copyright infringement was occurring at the venue. Greene visited Roscoe’s and conducted an investigation of the various musical compositions that were performed, and submitted his report to ASCAP, concluding that copyright infringement occurred with respect to eight songs owned by the Music Companies. 

Continue Reading Restaurants and Bars Beware: Failure to Obtain a License to Play a Copyrighted Music May Expose you to Substantial Damages

So many of us have become hopelessly addicted to our Blackberry smartphones and personal messaging devices that the devices are frequently referred to as “Crackberries.”  Seeking to capitalize on this addiction, beginning in December 2006, Defining Presence Marketing Group (“DPMG”) sought to register four trademarks covering various iterations of the phrase “Crackberry.”  Claiming their use was a parody of the ever popular Blackberry device, DPMG based their trademark registration on use of the Crackberry mark in connection with “Web-based marketing services, computer services, online chat rooms, and apparel.”  All four of the Crackberry marks were published for opposition in late 2007. 

Research in Motion (“RIM”), owner of the Blackberry trademark has been embroiled in patent litigation for most of the 21st century and apparently has not had its fill of intellectual property-related litigation.  Not long after DPMG’s applications were published, RIM initiated opposition proceedings challenging all four of the Crackberry marks.  DPMG defended its applications by asserting that Crackberry was a parody of the Blackberry name, and as such would not cause confusion among consumers.  RIM disagreed, claiming that use of the Crackberry marks was likely to cause confusion and ultimately would cause dilution of the Blackberry trademark. 

Continue Reading The Blackberry Might be Addictive, but Don’t Call it a Crackberry