District of Massachusetts IP Blog

Employee Sued For Walking Off With Source Code

Iconics, Inc. (Foxboro, MA) has sued a former employee residing in Catania, Italy for copyright infringement.  The complaint alleges that while the individual was employed by Iconics he copied source code which he then brought to a competitor, Volpe Industries, Inc., to use in competing software. 

Iconics, Inc. v. Massaro, 11-11526-DPW (D. Mass. Aug. 30, 2011)

Training Material Copyrights Asserted Again

Situation Management Systems, Inc. (Nashua, NH) has sued Kogan Page Limited (Philadelphia, PA) for copyright infringement related to behavioral questionnaires and materials.  A previous case (with a colorful procedural history) by SMS asserting its copyright in similar materials was before by Judge Young who was reversed by the First Circuit. 

Situation Management Systems, Inc. v. Kogan Page Limited, 11-11509-DJC (D. Mass. Aug. 25, 2011)

Belmont Electricians Accused of Trademark Infringement

Clockwork, Inc. (Sarasota, FL) and a consortium of related companies have sued H.O. Electric (Belmont, MA) for infringement of the trademarks AMERICA’S ON-TIME ELECTRICIANS, SERVICE IN HOURS NOT DAYS, and WAREHOUSE ON WHEELS for repair, maintenance, and installation services. 

Clockwork, Inc. v. H.O. Electric, 11-11505-RWZ (D. Mass. Aug. 24, 2011)

Coin-Grading System Palmed

An individual (and registered patent attorney) living Norfolk County, MA has sued Professional Coin Grading Service (Santa Ana, CA) and others for a variety of counts including Lanham Act violations, conversion, trade secret misappropriation, and breach of contract related to the defendants’ purported co-opting of the plaintiff’s (patent pending) AURA System for coin safeguarding, labeling, and monitoring.  The footnote filled complaint alleges that he pitched his system to the defendants under a confidentiality agreement but that they turned around and used it for themselves without compensation. 

Blake v. Professional Coin Grading Service, 11-11531-WGY (D. Mass. Aug. 31, 2011)

Individual Sues Cracker Barrel for the Cycle

An individual residing in New York, NY has sued Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (Lebanon, TN) for copyright, trademark, trade dress, and patent infringement related to knock-off versions of his BRAIN TWIST puzzle sold at Cracker Barrel stores.  An example: 

      

Authentic Brain Twist Puzzle                               Knock-Off Brain Twist Puzzle 

Hoberman v. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., 11-11539-WGY (D. Mass. Sep. 1, 2011)

Eyeglass Attachments Accused

Resident Artist Studio, LLC (Boxborough, MA) has sued America’s Best, Inc. (West Des Moines, IA) for infringement of Patent No. 7,886,477 directed to a vision enhancement apparatus.  ABI’s Clear2Target eyeglass attachable sighting discs are specifically accused. 

Resident Artist Studio, LLC v. America’s Best, Inc., 11-11560-RWZ (D. Mass. Sep. 6, 2011)

LUNESTA Goes for Knockout

Sunovion Pharm. Inc. (Marlborough, MA) has sued Health Science Nutrition, Inc. (Lindon, UT) for trademark infringement.  Sunovion alleges that Health Science’s LUNEXOR sleep aid products infringe Sunovion’s trademark in LUNESTA® prescription sleep aid.  Sunovion also alleges that Health Science purchased keyword ads so LUNEXOR would appear for searches for LUNESTA, that Health Science setup fake domains to advertise its product (<sleepingpillreviews.com>, <bestsleepingpills.org>, and <buytopsleepingpills.com>, and that LUNEXOR copied LUNESTA’s moth design, as shown below: 

Sunovion Pharm. Inc. v. Health Science Nutrition, Inc., 11-11564-DPW (D. Mass. Sep. 6, 2011)

MAN CANs Canned

Plum Island Soap Co. had sued Danielle and Company, Inc. for infringement of the trademark MAN CAN for tins of beauty products aimed at men.  Because the court found that the products as sold were “uncannily alike”, and there was likely to be confusion with regard to the marks, it entered a preliminary injunction.  Defendant was not enjoined from selling redesigned products without the name “can” and without confusingly similar labels.  The defendant did, however, have to contact all of its vendors, tell them to stop selling, and offer them refunds. 

Plum Island Soap Co. v. Danielle and Company, Inc., 11-11033-NMG (D. Mass. August 19, 2011)

D. Mass. To Allow Cameras In Courtroom

As reported in the Boston Globe, Judge Wolf announced today that D. Mass. will participate in a three-year pilot program allowing civil cases to be recorded for Internet and news broadcasts.

While practitioners and the odd client may want to see a patent case recorded, my over/under on the length of time before portions of a patent case are broadcast is never.

ARMS Case Sent Back to Judge Saris

The various ARMS cases have been mentioned several times in this blog.  One of them went up to the Federal Circuit, which just issued its decision.  In it the Federal Circuit affirmed Judge Saris’ invalidation of ARMS’ Reissue Patent No. 39,465 (directed to a firearm handguard) for failing to meet the written description requirement, but it also vacated a million dollar jury verdict because of a potential jury taint issue.  The appeals court’s logic was as follows: