Friday, August 20, 2010

The Material Girl’s Battle For MATERIAL GIRL

The trademark lawsuit story du jour was the complaint filed by L.A. Triumph, Inc. (“LA Triumph”) against Madonna and her company, Material Girl Brand, LLC, over the trademark MATERIAL GIRL in connection with clothing. See L.A. Triumph, Inc. v. Material Girl Brand, LLC et al, Case No. 10-cv-6195 (C.D. Cal. Filed August 19, 2010). Complaint can be viewed here (via Courthousenews). Multiple news outlets, blogs and gossip sources ran stories about the suit today (ABC News, Fox News, Huffington Post, RadarOnline, and TMZ)

In short, the complaint alleges that a California company named OC Mercantile Corporation started selling a line of MATERIAL GIRL clothes in 1997 – and even registered the name as a trademark with the California Secretary of State that same year (Reg. No. 102808 for women’s apparel). In 2003, LA Triumph became the successor-in-interest to OC Mercantile and purportedly has continued using the mark in connection with the sale of clothing items to the present day and claims that its clothing line has received national exposure. [Interestingly, LA Triumph does not appear to have any online presence where it sells its clothing goods – Google search results only came back with the published stories about this lawsuit. Of course, LA Triumph might argue that MGB’s recent nationwide marketing blitz have overwhelmed LA Triumph’s use of the mark – so called, reversed confusion.]

The complaint goes on to state that sometime in 2010, LA Triumph became aware that the Defendants were going to start selling a line of young women’s clothing using the MATERIAL GIRL mark. The website promoting Madonna’s brand is found at http://www.materialgirlcollection.com/ (as opposed to the website promoting LA Triumph’s clothing which is found . . . umm, anybody have any idea where LA Triumph’s MATERIAL GIRL clothing is promoted online? The closest I could come – based on the fact that L.A. Triumph, Inc. does business in California under the name MedGear – is a website http://www.medgear.com/ which sells clothing for hospital and medical industry workers, but I did not see anything using the mark MATERIAL GIRL.)

LA Triumph also alleges that MGB improperly filed to register the mark MATERIAL GIRL with the United State Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). Interestingly, MGB’s current application (the one cited in the case) was not the first application in line to register the mark MATERIAL GIRL. On May 11, 2009, Audigier Brand Management Group, LLC filed a trademark application for MATERIAL GIRL (covering 7 different classes of goods including clothing). The USPTO initially refused registration in a non-final office action dated August 13, 2009, but only because the description needed some clarification and not based on a Section 2(d) likelihood of confusion refusal.

Subsequently, the Audigier application was assigned to MGB on December 1, 2009. And within days of this assignment, MGB then filed its own intent-to-use application for the mark MATERIAL GIRL (for 4 classes of goods including clothing) on December 4, 2009. This explains why MGB did not file a timely response to the PTO’s office action in the “Audigier” application, which went abandoned on March 26, 2010.

So why, you ask, would MGB file a new intent-to-use application for MATERIAL GIRL when Audigier’s earlier filed MATERIAL GIRL application had already been assigned to MGB? Most likely because the Audigier application was an intent-to-use application and MGB was not really the successor to any kind of ongoing and existing business by Audigier to which the applied-for mark pertained. Under §10 of the Trademark Act (15 U.S.C. § 1060), an application filed under §1(b) (intent-to-use) may not be assigned before a statement of use has been filed except to a successor to the business of the applicant, or portion thereof, to which the mark pertains, if that business is ongoing and existing. See 15 U.S.C. §1060(a)(1). The law is quite clear that the assignment of a §1(b) application to an entity that is not the successor to the applicant’s business, before filing an allegation of use, renders the application and any resulting registration void. See The Clorox Co. v. Chem. Bank, 40 USPQ2d 1098 (TTAB 1996). By MGB filing a brand new application, MGB could start fresh without having to be concerned about any resulting registration being deemed void on the basis of improper assignment of a §1(b) application.

Of course, once MGB’s own application was published for opposition on July 20, 2010, LA Triumph timely filed an opposition – filed the same day that LA Triumph’s district court lawsuit was filed. See L.A. Triumph, Inc. v. Material Girl Brand, LLC, Opposition No. 91196172 (T.T.A.B. Filed August 19, 2010). [As a sidenote, another party, Rwachsberg Holdings Inc., filed an Extension of Time to oppose registration of MGB’s mark. Rwachsberg owns the mark MATERIAL GIRLS for cosmetic products and nutritional food products. ]

But the real question is this – why didn’t either OC Mercantile or even LA Triumph seek to register the mark MATERIAL GIRL in connection with clothing with the USPTO?

While one could speculate that neither company bothered to register because they weren’t actively using the mark on clothing and thus the instant lawsuit would be an attempt by LA Triumph to claim trademark rights that were likely minimal at best and/or long since abandoned, another very likely answer was that the mark could not have been registered by either company with the USPTO because there was already an existing trademark registration for the identical mark for the identical goods. A Canadian company name Les Ventes Universelles S.H. Inc. had a trademark registration for MATERIAL GIRL in connection with clothing (registered July 8, 1997) based on the company’s foreign registration of the same mark (dating back to May 1990). The company filed the necessary Section 8 Declaration of Use at the 5 year mark, but did not renew the mark by the 10 year renewal deadline and the mark was canceled April 12, 2008.

So the natural follow-up question is this – why didn’t LA Triumph run out right away and seek to file a federal trademark application to register the mark once Les Ventes’ registration was canceled – during the window between April 12, 2008 and May 11, 2009 (when Audigier filed its first application)? Again, perhaps it was because LA Triumph was not really actively using the mark in connection with clothing, and thus the instant lawsuit would be an attempt by LA Triumph to claim trademark rights that were likely minimal at best and/or long since abandoned – but again that would be just pure speculation. [Did I neglect to mention that according to the California Secretary of State’s records the state registration for MATERIAL GIRL expired August 9, 2007?]

So where can I buy LA Triumph’s MATERIAL GIRL clothing again?

1 comment:

Daniel B Stern said...

So, Ryan, what do you think about this?

LA Triumph is obviously being brought into this suit by an enterprising plaintiff's attorney who just wants a settlement.

Given that set of facts, what if Madonna or MGB filed a counter suit alleging false over-attribution or a right of publicity claim?

Is LA triumph's use of "Material Girl" a violation of Madonna's right of publicity / over attribution?

If so, would LA Triumph possibly drop the suit, or settle for less?