Intellectual Property Law

Maryland IP Litigation 2008: Lawsuit Summaries

By Brian Wm. Higgin

     Below are summaries of recent IP-related lawsuits filed in the the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in 2008 (source: Justia).

• Emerson Electric Co. v. John Does 1-10, No. 1:2008cv00734; filed March 20, 2008; assigned to J. Blake

     Plaintiff Emerson Electric, a Missouri company, states "This is a Complaint for an injunction, damages, and other appropriate relief to prevent unknown Defendants from engaging in a widespread fraudulent internet scheme that involves the infringement and misappropriation of Plaintiff’s trademarks. In this scheme, Defendants have impersonated Emerson and its chairman David N. Farr in emails and on internet job boards to trick unsuspecting internet users into believing they have obtained jobs with Emerson. In their supposed capacity as Emerson employees, these victims have – on instruction from Defendants – unwittingly cashed fraudulent United States Postal Service money orders or certified checks on behalf of Defendants. Defendants’ scam has caused Emerson irreparable harm, damaged its reputation, damaged its [EMERSON] mark, caused confusion in the marketplace as to the origin of the job offers and Emerson’s role in the scam, and caused Emerson to incur significant expenses and utilize significant resources in an effort to halt the scammers and stop the fraud."

     Plaintiff alleges trademark infringement under the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1114), false designation of origin under the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)), unfair competition/false advertising under the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)), Maryland common law unfair competition against all defendants.

• VTran Media Technologies, LLC v. Antietam Cable Television, Inc., No. 1:2008cv00739; filed March 21, 2008; assigned to J. Garbis

• Almo Music Corporation et al v. Three Pols, LLC, No. 1:2008cv00747; filed March 25, 2008; assigned to J. Motz 

     This copyright infringement case was filed by plaintiffs Almo Music Corporation, Mighty Underdog Music, Sony/ATV Tunes LLC, Odnil Music Limited, Fifty-Six Hope Road Music Limited, Get Jet Music, Inc., Cherry Lane Music Publishing Co., Inc. and Dimensional Music of 1091 against defendants Three Pols, LLC, Joshua E. Gursky and Grant R. Gursky.  

• Broadcast Music, Inc. et al v. Carullo Steele, Inc., No. 1:2008cv00824; filed April 2, 2008; assigned to J. Bennett

     This copyright infringement case was brought by plaintiff Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), the licensee of copyrighted works owned by co-plaintiffs EMI Blackwood Music, Inc., House of Cash, Inc., Songs of Universal, Inc., EMI Virgin Songs, Inc., Elijah Blue Music, Unichappell Music, Inc., ABKCO Music, Inc., EMI Algree Music Corp., Wayne Hodge, Sony/ATV Songs, LLC, Leon E. Brooks, III and Ronnie Gene Dunn.

     Plaintiffs allege that defendants Carullo Steele, Inc., owner/operator of Freddies Bel Air (Bel Air, MD), and Stephen J. Carullo, Jr., an alleged officer of Carullo Steele, Inc., publicly performed copyrighted works owned/licensed by plaintiffs.

     Max Stadfeld of Offit Kurman, P.A. (Owings Mills, MD) filed the complaint on behalf of the plaintiffs.

Full post as published by Maryland Intellectual Property Law Blog on May 08, 2008 (boomark / email).