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Score One for the Little Guy: Pro Se Defendants Beat Toyota in 9th Circuit

By Eric Lipman

Here's a heart-warming story to start off your Friday. A couple of auto brokers from Mission Viejo, Calif., decided to fight a trademark battle with Toyota, sans attorney, and won. As reported in today's Recorder, Lisa and Farzad Tabari initially hired a lawyer when they were slapped with a cease-and-desist from the Japanese auto giant insisting that they stop conducting business using URLs buy-a-lexus.com and buyorleaselexus.com. But when the bills started coming in fast and furious, they decided to go it alone. After a district court found that their use of those domain names infringed Toyota's trademarks, the Tabaris appealed, and Lisa argued the appeal before a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit. The Tabaris were vindicated in an opinion (.pdf) by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski. Kozinski, joined by Judge N. Randy Smith, held, in short, that "when [the Tabaris] say Lexus, they mean Lexus." And that use of a trademark to describe the trademarked goods, called "nominative fair use," is A-OK where there is no likelihood that the public will be confused as to Toyota's sponsorship or endorsement of the Tabaris' websites. The majority opinion is, for lack of a better word, Kozinski-esque, which compelled Judge Ferdinand F. Fernandez...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on July 09, 2010 (boomark / email).