Intellectual Property Law

Eleventh Circuit: Website in Tennessee using Floridian's trademark sufficient for jurisdiction

By McKee, Voorhees & Sease, P.L.C.

In a decision last week, the Eleventh Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of a trademark infringement case for lack of personal jurisdiction.  The district court held that the allegedly infringing conduct, operating a website, was insufficient to warrant jurisdiction in the plaintiff's home state of Florida.

Here, the plaintiff was an individual, and the trademark allegedly infringed was the plaintiff's name.  The court applied the Calder effects test, and held it was reasonable for the defendant, in using the plaintiff's name, to expect to be haled into court in the plaintiff's home state.  The court characterized the alleged trademark infringement in this case as intentional, in that the plaintiff was "individually targeted" to "misappropriate his name and reputation for commercial gain."  As a result, the Calder test was met, and personal jurisdiction was proper in Florida.

More detail of Licciardello v. Lovelady following the jump.

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Full post as published by FileWrapper on October 17, 2008 (boomark / email).