Seventh Circuit Affirms Award of Fees Against Member of "Hall of Fame" of Hyperactive Trademark Litigators

Case: Central Mfg., Inc. v. Brett, No. 06-2083 (U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, 7/9/07)

The One Sentence Summary: In an opinion with some interesting baseball trivia thrown in, the Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment, cancellation of the mark and attorneys' fees against a serial litigant of warehoused trademarks who could not show actual use of its registered STEALTH mark.


Seventh Circuit Holdings:

• The district court correctly granted summary judgment against plaintiff's trademark infringement claims when plaintiff could not produce credible evidence of actual sales of baseball merchandise bearing the STEALTH mark.
• The district court properly canceled the registration for the trademark due to invalidity under its authority pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1119.
• The award of attorneys' fees under 15 U.S.C. § 1117 against plaintiff was affirmed. The court noted the "dead fish" standard: "And we will not reverse a determination for clear error unless it 'strike[s] us as wrong with the force of a 5- week-old, unrefrigerated dead fish.'", citing Parts and Elec. Motors, Inc. v. Sterling Elec., Inc., 866 F.2d 228, 233 (7th Cir. 1988).