Connecticut Business Litigation Blog : Connecticut Business Lawyer & Attorney : N. Kane Bennett : Aeton Law Partners LLP : Hartford, Middletown, Glastonbury

The smoking gun evidence in a trademark lawsuit filed in US District Court in Connecticut is allegedly metadata from a YouTube video.  Here is the lawsuit.  In the lawsuit , Tuscan Leveling, Inc. alleges that Roynette, Inc. stole its trademarked concept for a level tiling process.  According to the Complaint:

• Tuscan is an Iowa based business that markets and provides a "unique tile installation method." 
• Tuscan's tiling process is subject to a pending patent and trademark application and has identified the Tuscan Leveling System as its trademark.
• Roynette is a Connecticut  based business that markets and solicits over the Internet.  Roynette advertised the sale of a competing tile leveling system over the Internet through a YouTube video that was identical to the the Tuscan leveling system.
• The metadata from the YouTube video shows the Tuscan Leveling System trademark in "human readable form."   (Note: you can see the readable form in the attachment to the Complaint)
• The metadata would permit Internet consumers to search for Tuscan and end up finding the Roynette video and product.   Roynette puts the product it is selling by hyperlink directly adjacent to the Tuscan trademark.

The Complaint seeks damages, attorney's fees, and an injunction.   Roynette has not yet responded to the lawsuit.

Nothing unusual about a YouTube video surfacing as evidence, but this one may be a first, at least in Connecticut.  This case is unique because the evidence is not the video itself but the metadata with the video.  Metadata is typically described as data about data.   YouTube allows you to edit or add metadata to a video.  The metadata, descriptions, or titles for the videos can show up in response to search terms on search engines such as Google or even YouTube.  The allegation here is that Roynette used Tuscan's trademark name to attract consumers searching on the Internet for tile leveling. 

 In this case, it was not only consumers who found Roynette, but it seems they attracted Tuscan too. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Some noteworthy Connecticut lawsuits, and of course, continuing coverage of Hulk Hogan....

• The Bysiewicz for Connecticut Attorney General saga continues.  Is she qualified or not?  Is the statute that seems to preclude her from running unconstitutional?  Will voters elect an Attorney General with essentially no significant experience representing regular clients?  Common sense says "no", but the polls suggest otherwise and she fights on.  Only time will tell as the legal community awaits the ruling of Judge Michael Sheldon.  Several bloggers and columnists have been regularly covering this issue, including the original story breaker,Ryan McKeen at A Connecticut Law Blog.   For the Republican take, check out Chris Healy on the Everyday Republican.  The Hartford Courant's coverage is here.  Christine Stuart at CT News Junkie regularly posts on the Bysiewicz case.
• Richard Blumenthal, although running for Senate, continues to make headlines as our current Attorney General.  His office is now suing Westport National Bank and an investment manager seeking to recover $16.2 million in losses for up to 240 investors.  As of Friday, the lawsuit was served but not yet returned to Court.  Blumenthal issued a statement saying the Bank collected $2.4 million in fees...but actually did little..."   The Bank President, Richard Cummings, fired back stating that Blumenthal's comments were "inflammatory" and contained "numerous inaccuracies."
• ctwatchdog reported on the CT Department of Consumer Protection charging Wal-Mart Stores in two locations with pricing violations.  A hearing will take place in May to determine fines against Wal-Mart for allegations of unit price violations with consumer products. 
• Doug Malan of the CT Law Tribune, who also has his own company on professional writing, covers the unfortunate story of a father and son lawsuit involving control and break up of the Simko law firm.  Although the lawsuit relates to a law firm dispute, the legal issues are the same for any family business where sometimes the formality of reducing agreements to writing are overlooked.  According to Malan's story, the case is headed for trial in May and Connecticut Statutes on limited liability companies may govern the outcome by default because there was no written operating agreement.  Family disputes over closely held businesses are always painful, but a clearly drafted operated agreement can mitigate the dispute especially if the agreement includes provisions for succession, disability, buy-outs and arbitration.
• A while back, I posted about Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against his attorney's for failing to advise him he had insurance coverage for an auto accident claim.  The Hulkster is back at it.  This time he is suing his insurance company for not giving him enough coverage.  You might see this kind of a lawsuit in Connecticut but typically only against an agent, not the insurance company itself.  In fact, many times lawsuits are filed in Connecticut against insurance agents for professional malpractice or breach of fiduciary duty for failing to obtain the proper coverages for clients. It seems the Hulk had 30 million in assets but only a $250,000 auto policy. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

When I started this blog, I decided I would keep an eye on lawsuits related to social networking websites as it seems this type of evidence will soon take the place of the smoking gun email of the last ten years.  The impact of social networking evidence in Connecticut business litigation will continue to grow.

My interest in social networking cases started with a Facebook lawsuit so I made a Facebook category on this blog and discussed some concerns for individuals and Connecticut businesses.  Then Twitter exploded to growth of 1000% last year, so I added a Twitter defamation case and a new category.  And now, its finally here ... I need a  LinkedIn category for LinkedIn lawsuits. 

I do not claim to know about all of the social networking lawsuits out there.  There are also some social networking sites that I ignore, like the dying MySpace.  Nevertheless, I do track cases of interest in this area.  You might also check out Megan Erickson's Social Networking blog as a resource to check on these type of claims or visit Dan Schwartz's Connecticut Employment Law Blog for resources and tips on policies for employers related to social networking.  

The LinkedIn lawsuit involves a non-compete agreement and solicitation of employees by a former employee. Molly DiBianca with The Delaware Employment Law Blog detailed the case in a post about the lawsuit filed by TEKSystems against its former employees.  Nothing strange about this type of lawsuit, only in this case, TEKSystems claims it has evidence of breach of the employment contract arising from post-termination solicitation of its employees through the LinkedIn connections of one of the defendants.  Here is a copy of the lawsuit (go to paragraph 37). 

Molly DiBianca states it is the first lawsuit she is aware of using an employee's LinkedIn account.  She may be right, as I am not aware of another case like it.  Nevertheless, I certainly expect this type of social networking evidence to be the focus of more lawsuits and it was only a matter of time for LinkedIn to be involved in a case with media attention.  In Connecticut, we had our own social networking evidence case with Facebook.  In a bullying case involving Miss Porter's School, Judge Arterton ruled that the plaintiff's postings in an expired account were relevant.   

The way I see it, this is only the beginning.  Soon enough, social networking evidence will be as significant and commonplace as email evidence.  At that point, I'll have to find something else to blog about ....

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link