Justia Trademark Opinion Summaries

Articles Posted in U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
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Optical Systems Technology, Inc. (OSTI) and Knights Armament Company (KAC), and its owner, dispute the ownership of two trademarks used in the manufacturing and marketing of clip-on night vision devices: "Universal Night Sight" and "UNS." At issue was the district court's entry of partial summary judgment in favor of KAC on OSTI's misappropriation of trade secrets counterclaim. Also at issue was OSTI's pending motion for summary judgment on all counts of KAC's complaint. The court held that the district court was correct in concluding as a matter of law that OSTI's trade secret misappropriation claim was barred by the statute of limitations and the district court correctly granted summary judgment to KAC on OSTI's Count IV, based upon undisputed facts in the record. The court also held that the district court committed no clear error when it determined that OSTI owned the mark; the mark was descriptive, without secondary meaning; and OSTI had no protectable rights in the mark. Therefore, the court held that KAC could not be liable for trademark infringement based on rights to a mark that OSTI could not enforce. View "Knights Armament Co. v. Optical Sys. Tech., Inc." on Justia Law

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This appeal stemmed from a judgment against an entertainment company, plaintiffs, that sued the current members of "Expose," an American girl dance band, about the trademark name of the band. At issue was whether the district court erred when it found that plaintiffs failed to prove that it had enforceable rights in the Expose mark at common law. The court held that the district court did not err when it determined that the individual band members were the common law owners of the Expose mark where the record supported findings that plaintiffs had no enforceable rights in the mark and where the court need not reach the issue of consumer confusion because plaintiffs had no enforceable rights. The court further held that the remaining grounds for relief asserted by plaintiffs were without merit. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "Crystal Entertainment & Filmworks, Inc., et al. v. Jurado, et al." on Justia Law