Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc. (New York, NY) has sued Esther Hadassah cosmetics (Lawrence, MA) and its owner for infringement of the trademark HADASSAH. The plaintiff has a number of registrations in the mark, including one for jewelry with a first use dating back to 1941 (though only registered in 2009). The plaintiff also has a registration for the mark ESTHER (the English translation of the Hebrew “Hadassah”) for pearls and jewelry set with pearls dating to 2004. What the plaintiff does not have is a registration (or use) for either ESTHER or HADASSAH for cosmetics. Defendant has applied for such a registration and claims a date of first use of 2008.
The complaint alleges that the HADASSAH mark is strongly associated with the plaintiff (certainly true in certain circles) and is strongly associated with women (I’d be even more specific and say Jewish women). Can the plaintiff, a century-old non-profit organization with a name based on a character from the Bible prevent a new cosmetics startup from using the same name? We shall see.
Hadassah v. Alvarez, 11-11660-MBB (D. Mass. Sep. 20, 2011)
[Note: My mom doesn’t actually know about this case. Shhh.]
Comments