Registration Cancelled Where Services Related to Mark Not Provided
Playdom, Inc. filed a petition to cancel Couture’s mark, arguing that the registration was void because Couture did not use the mark in commerce as of the date of the application. Couture originally filed for the mark “PLAYDOM” in 2008 using a screen capture of a website to show use in commerce. The website was a single page, which offered services and provided contact information for those seeking services. However, Couture did not provide services related to the mark until 2010. The Board granted the cancellation petition because Couture had not rendered services as of the filing date of the application.
In affirming the Board’s decision, the Federal Circuit held that the offering of a service, without the actual provision of the service, is insufficient to constitute use in commerce. Registration of a mark for services is considered used in commerce only when (1) it is used or displayed in the sale or advertising of services and (2) the services are rendered. Rendering services requires actual provision of those services. Because Couture merely advertised for services, which were not rendered as of the filing date, cancellation of the registration was appropriate. The Federal Circuit also held that Couture could not amend the basis of the application because such an amendment is only appropriate while the application is pending.
Couture v. Playdom, Inc., Case No. 2014-1480 (Fed. Cir., March 2, 2015)
Trademark Rights in Bob Marley’s Name and Likeness Trump Free Speech Where Defense Was Not Properly Pleaded
Fifty-Six Hope Road (“Hope Road”) is a company run by some of Bob Marley’s children, and it owns the property right to Bob Marley’s name, voice and likeness. Hope Road licensed Zion Rootswear the exclusive right to use Marley’s name and likeness on t-shirts.
One of the defendants, A.V.E.L.A., acquired photos of Marley from a photographer and licensed the photos to Jem Sportswear for production of t-shirts and other merchandise bearing Marley’s image, which merchandise which was then sold at Target, Walmart and other large retailers.
Hope Road sued in district court for violation of its rights under Nevada’s Right of Publicity laws, the common law, and the Lanham Act, claiming the merchandise bearing Marley’s image created a likelihood of confusion as to plaintiff’s sponsorship or approval of the merchandise. The district court dismissed the state law right of publicity claim and the common law trademark infringement claim, but found for Hope Road on its Lanham Act infringement claim, and its claim that defendants interfered with the plaintiff’s prospective economic advantage. The district court awarded damages and attorneys’ fees to the plaintiff.
The defendants filed an appeal, arguing that t-shirts are expressive works protected under the First Amendment. The Ninth Circuit found that the jury properly found that the defendants waived that and several other defenses by failing to properly raise them in the district court. The Court found defendants raised “several potentially salient defenses” to challenge the judgment, but would not reverse the district court ruling because those defenses were not sufficiently asserted in district court.
The Court ruled that the Lanham Act claim for misuse of a celebrity’s persona was supported by sufficient evidence to establish that Marley’s endorsement of the defendant’s products was implied through the imitation of a distinctive attribute of his identity. The Court distinguished this case from a similar case involving Princess Diana’s image (Cairns II, 107 F.Supp. 2d at 1217) where the court held that Princess Diana’s image was only weakly associated with the plaintiffs, largely because her image had not served a source-identifying function during her life or after her death. In that case, the court found that many parties had been selling products bearing the Princess’s image before her death and continued to do so after her death and thus, there was no one source of that merchandise. Marley, however, sold merchandise bearing his image during his lifetime and the plaintiff continued to do so after his death, and both Marley and the plaintiff have routinely contested the unauthorized use of Marley’s name or image by others.
Fifty-Six Hope Road Music v. A.V.E.L.A., Case numbers 12-17502, 12-17595, 13-15407 and 13-15473, and Fifty-Six Hope Road Music, Ltd. et al v. Jem Sportswear, et al, case number 12-17519 (9th Cir., February, 20, 2015)