TRADE SECRETS, TRADEMARKS: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW UPDATES

From the national general practice law firm of Charles Jerome Ware, P.A., Attorneys and Counsellors: "Still working. Still committed. Still here to make a difference."

- "Disney, DC Comics, Sanrio Sue Party Animals, LLC for Trademark and Copyright Infringement":

The Walt Disney Co. sued a Southern California provider of birthday-party entertainment for trademark and copyright infringement.

Co-plaintiffs with Disney are Tokyo’s Sanrio Co. (8136), which is famous for its Hello Kitty character, and Time Warner Inc.’s DC Comics unit. The suit, filed Aug. 27 in federal court in Los Angeles, claims Party Animals LLC of Marina Del Rey, California, infringes intellectual property associated with licensed characters belonging to the three companies.

Party Animals is accused of infringing by its distribution, sale or rental of character costumers and related merchandise. Among the characters claimed to be infringed are Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Pluto, Goofy, Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel.

The Party Animals website lists “look alike characters”that include a “Green Guy,” “Princess Aurora,” “Superheroes,” and a “Brown Dog.” According to a statement on the company’s website, “Look-a-like characters are not officially licensed. We do not use or have copyrighted or licensed material, costumes or names.”

The owners of the licensed characters say they are harmed by the actions of the party company, and asked for court orders barring further infringement. Additionally they asked that the company be required to surrender for destruction all offending products and promotional material, and requested that they be transferred the party company’s Internet domain name.

The damages they seek are $200,000 for each infringed trademark, and, if the court determines that infringement is deliberate, for the damages to be increased to $2 million per mark. They also asked that awards of damages and of profits derived from the alleged infringement be tripled to punish the defendants for their actions.

The case is Disney Enterprises v. Jason Lancaster, 2:12-cv-07347-DDP-JC, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).

- "DuPont Wins Court Order Barring Kolon From Selling Body-Armor Fiber":

DuPont Co. (DD), the inventor of Kevlar, the body-armor, has won a ruling barring Kolon Industries Inc.’s sales of a competing version of the product used in protective clothing for police and the military for the next 20 years.

U.S. District Judge Robert Payne in Richmond, Virginia, in an Aug. 20, 2012 order barred Kolon from selling products in the U.S. made with its para-aramid fiber after a jury found last year that the South Korean manufacturer stole trade secrets relating to the Kevlar fiber and should pay more than $919 million in damages.

DuPont, based in Wilmington, Delaware, is expanding Kevlar production to meet rising demand for armor and lightweight materials that reduce energy use. The company opened a $500 million plant in South Carolina last year to boost output of the material for use in products such as tires, auto parts and fiber-optic cables.

Jurors in federal court in Richmond found in September 2011 that Gyeonggi-based Kolon and its U.S. unit wrongfully obtained proprietary information about Kevlar by hiring some former DuPont engineers and marketers.

DuPont sued Kolon in February 2009 alleging it stole confidential Kevlar data. DuPont began selling the bullet-resistant fiber in 1965 and it’s used in body armor, military helmets, ropes, cables and tires. Kolon began making its own version of the para-aramid fiber in 2005.

Jurors found Kolon got access to Kevlar secrets by hiring Michael Mitcher, a former DuPont engineer who also had served as a Kevlar marketing executive.

In his order, Payne note that jurors concluded Kolon executives “willfully and maliciously misappropriated” Kevlar secrets and the company engaged in “unlawful conduct.”

As a result, Kolon is barred for a period of 20 years from“manufacturing, using, marketing, promoting, selling, distributing, offering for sale or soliciting customers for any para-aramid product,” the judge said.

The case is E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Kolon Industries Inc. (120110), 09-cv-00058, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia (Richmond).

- "University of Pennsylvania Settles Trade Secrets Lawsuit With Sloan-Kettering President Craig Thompson":

Trade secrets litigation involving the president of New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Craig Thompson, the University of Pennsylvania, and two biotech companies has settled, according to an Aug. 31 joint statement.

The lawsuits were related to research conducted by Dr. Craig Thompson, the president of Sloan-Kettering, that was funded by a $100 million donation from the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. The university and the foundation accused Thompson of allegedly breaching an agreement with the foundation by failing to disclose his discoveries to the institute, instead providing the information to a company he founded and publishing it in an international journal.

Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed. The parties said in a statement that Thompson’s company, Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc., has entered into a collaboration agreement with the University of Pennsylvania covering the development of diagnostic products to detect the metabolism of come cancers.

The two cases are Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania v. Thompson, 12-cv-1330, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan), and Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute v. Thompson, 11-09108, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

[www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-04/akamai-apple-disney-dupont]