Weekly Wrapup of Nevada District Court Trademark Lawsuits

It was a busy week for trademark related lawsuit filings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada (and not a single one of them filed by me).

Price Products, LLC v. Juvenile Solutions, Inc., Case No. 09-cv-02067 (D. Nev. October 27, 2009) (Complaint).

The owner of the DRIPSTIK ice cream/frozen treat holder (pictured above) sues for trademark and trade dress infringement over a knockoff product sold under the name FUN STIK by former Canadian distributor Petite Creations through Petite’s American distributor, Juvenile Solutions. Price Products discovered the products being marketed by Juvenile Solutions at an exhibitor’s booth at the ABC Kids Expo held on September 13-16, 2009, at the Las Vegas Convention Center (which is the only reason why an Idaho LLC is apparently suing a California corporation in Nevada district court).

M Holdings, LLC et al v. Hu Mei Lei, Case No. 09-cv-02071 (D. Nev. October 27, 2009) (Complaint) (Las Vegas Sun Article).
Las Vegas’ newest hotel and casino, The M Resort, files cybersquatting action against Chinese resident Hu Mei Lei over the website wwwmresort.com registered September 5, 2009, and purportedly featuring “provocative images of women” initially and changed thereafter to a typical pay-per-click landing page with links to discount hotel websites.

Rolex Watch U.S.A., Inc. v. Ryska et al, Case No. 09-cv-02093 (D. Nev. October 29, 2009) (Complaint) (Las Vegas Sun Article).

Rolex sues Las Vegas residents Angelika Ryska and Robert Mayer for counterfeiting over their sale of “replica” Rolex® watches through their website moreaffordable4u.com.

Mellow Beverage Co., LLC v. Nounna et. al, Case No. 09-cv-02090 (D. Nev. October 29, 2009) (Complaint) (Las Vegas Sun Article).

A company which sells a “relaxation and sleep aid” beverage under the unregistered trademark MELLOW (pending trademark applications here and here) filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Shannon N. Nounna and Beverage Concepts, Inc. over a similar type of relaxation beverage using the name MELLOW (pictured below) (pending trademark application here) that Beverage Concepts is apparently launching soon.

CityCenter Land, LLC v. Papillon Airways, Inc. et al, Case No. 09-cv-02088 (D. Nev. October 29, 2009) (Complaint) (Las Vegas Sun Article).

The owner of the massive CityCenter project in Las Vegas is seeking a declaratory judgment that its proposed use of the name PAPILLON (pending trademark applications here and here) for one of CityCenter’s high-end retail stores located at CityCenter’s 500,000 square foot retail complex called “Crystals at CityCenter” does not infringe on the trademark rights of Papillon Airways, Inc. and Monarch Enterprises, Inc. which use the PAPILLON mark in connection with helicopter and bus tour services.

On September 3, 2009, Papillon Airways’ counsel sent a cease and desist letter to CityCenter, citing Paillion Airways’ trademark registration for PAPILLON for various goods and services (e.g., bumper stickers, clothing, helicopter and bus tour services) and claiming that CityCenter’s use of PAPILLON (logo version pictured above) is likely to lead consumers to believe there is an affiliation with Papillon Airways’ goods and services. CityCenter’s response is that Papillon Airways misrepresents the scope of its rights to the PAPILLON mark, which is always used in connection with “Grand Canyon Helicopters” (as pictured below), and thus the second claim for relief for misrepresentation.

Aloha Medicinals, Inc. v. Birkdale Medicinals, Inc., et al, Case No. 09-cv-00639 (D. Nev. October 29, 2009) (Complaint).

A convoluted lawsuit involving claims by Aloha Medicinals, a manufacturer of dietary supplements for people and pets, against former authorized distributor Birkdale Medicinals and one of its officers, Anthony “Tom” Peters, arising from Birkdale Medicinals’ apparent relabeling of Aloha Medicinals’ products to make it appear as if the products were Birkdale Medicinals’ own branded products. There are also claims relating to use of Aloha Medicinals’ copyrighted website, clinical and technical data for Aloha Medicinals’ products (used by Defendants as data for their products), using Aloha Medicinals’ unregistered trademarks as metatags and Google Adwords, and intentional misrepresentation regarding broken promises over special packaging provided by Aloha Medicinals to Birkdale Medicinals.