Posts Tagged: "unfair business practices"

Desilu Studios Files Trademark Infringement Complaint Against CBS in California Federal Court

Manhattan Beach, CA-based entity Desilu Studios, Inc., filed a complaint alleging trademark infringement and other claims against New York City-based television and film production firm CBS Studios. The complaint, filed in the Central District of California, asks the court to declare Desilu Studios the correct owner of trademarks covering the use of the Desilu trademark, first coined by famed TV stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

Legal Recourse Options After An IP Infringement Take Down Notice

When infringement claims are legitimate, Take Downs can be a useful mechanism for getting counterfeit or infringing products taken off the online retail platform website. In turn, sellers protect their hard-earned consumer brand confidence. However, not every seller in the online realm plays fairly, and countless honest and legitimate sellers have found themselves in a position where their products have been removed from online platforms for alleged IP infringement and they do not know what they can do about their situation… If there is an urgency to get back into the online marketplace – for instance, in order to participate in the Holiday shopping season – disadvantaged online sellers who have had their products unfairly removed from an online retail platform through a Take Down Notice need legal recourse, and they need it quickly.

Trump Administration to open probe into deceptive intellectual property policy in China

Plans are being made by the Trump administration to open a probe into deceptive Chinese trade practices by invoking Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974… Where joint venture tech transfer rules are concerned, however, the Trump administration may well find out that the Chinese government is enabling practices that do violate international treaties. Foreign entities who want to operate in the Chinese market are typically forced to do so as joint ventures with domestic entities and the transfer of intellectual property assets from the foreign entity to the domestic one is often enforced. That policy runs afoul of the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

How Consumers Can Protect Themselves from False Advertising in Retail

In September 2014, a California woman named Linda Rubenstein sued Neiman Marcus over allegedly misleading price tags at their “Last Call” line of stores. In the case, Rubenstein alleged that the company misled consumers at its Last Call stores with prices tags that listed a cost “compared to” a fictitious higher price, designed to lure shoppers into thinking they are getting a deal. In December of 2014, U.S. District Judge S. James Otero dismissed Rubenstein’s suit with leave to amend, for failure to state a claim and failure to allege fraud with particularity. Just last week, her putative class action revived when a Ninth Circuit panel agreed that a lower court prematurely tossed her case.

Leason Ellis Sues Another Trademark Scammer in Federal Court

The firm is back at it again in 2013 taking on another alleged trademark scam operation after successfully prevailing in a similar claim just over 1 year ago against USA Trademark Enterprises. See Trademark Scammers Out of Business Thanks to Leason Ellis. In that case, 7:12-cv-0620 (SDNY), alleged that the defendants had engaged in false advertising and unfair competition by marketing a so-called “catalog” of trademark registrations. The case settled for $10,000, which the firm donated to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Thus, the defendants would do well to stand up and take notice. It seems that Leason Ellis is living by the the words that mark the youth of my generation — “We’re not gonna take it, no, we ain’t gonna take it, we’re not going to take it any more!”