Ayush Herbs Inc v. Mahita LLC

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedFebruary 12, 2025
Docket2:24-cv-00607
StatusUnknown

This text of Ayush Herbs Inc v. Mahita LLC (Ayush Herbs Inc v. Mahita LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ayush Herbs Inc v. Mahita LLC, (W.D. Wash. 2025).

Opinion

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5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 9 AT SEATTLE 10 11 AYUSH HERBS, INC., CASE NO. 2:24-cv-00607-TL 12 Plaintiff, ORDER ON MOTION FOR v. DEFAULT JUDGMENT AND ENTRY 13 MAHITA, LLC d/b/a PUSHMYCART, and OF PERMANENT INJUNCTION 14 NOVA WEB INNOVATIONS PVT. LTD., 15 Defendants. 16

17 This is an action for damages and injunctive relief for trademark infringement and related 18 claims. This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff Ayush Herbs, Inc.’s (“Ayush”) Motion 19 for Default Judgment and Entry of Permanent Injunction Against Defendant Nova Web 20 Innovations Pvt. Ltd. (“Nova”). Dkt. No. 21.1 Defendant Nova has not appeared or otherwise 21 participated in this case. Having reviewed the briefing and relevant record, the Court GRANTS the 22 motion and ENTERS JUDGMENT against Defendant Nova. 23 1 On October 21, 2024, the Court entered a Final Consent Judgment and Permanent Injunction against Defendant 24 Mahita, LLC, the other Defendant in this case. Dkt. No. 14. 1 I. BACKGROUND 2 A. Parties 3 1. Plaintiff 4 Plaintiff Ayush is a Washington corporation with its principal place of business located in

5 Redmond, Washington. Dkt. No. 1 ¶ 1. Ayush sells Ayurvedic herbal medicine, supplements, 6 vitamins, minerals, and enzymes under the “Ayush Herbs” trademark. Id. ¶ 9. The company 7 asserts that it “bases its formulations on traditional Ayurvedic combinations [that] contain[] 8 herbs grown naturally in their pristine Himalayan habitat, without the use of pesticides, 9 insecticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers.” Id. ¶ 10. Ayush’s products “are subject to strict 10 quality control standards and carry certifications in organic and kosher practices, as well as 11 [International Organization for Standardization] practices and U.S. Food and Drug Association 12 [sic] Good Manufacturing Practices.” Id. ¶ 11. 13 Relevant to this case, Ayush owns two trademarks: “Ayush Herbs,” No. 2,493,772, in 14 International Trademark Class 003 and International Trademark Class 005; and “Ayush,” No.

15 6,762,042, in International Class 003 and International Class 005. Id. ¶¶ 13, 15; see also id. at 18, 16 20 (registration documentation from United States Patent and Trademark Office). Ayush 17 registered the “Ayush Herbs” trademark on October 2, 2001; the trademark became incontestable 18 in 2007. Id. ¶ 14. Ayush registered the “Ayush” trademark on June 22, 2022. Id. ¶ 15. 19 2. Defendants 20 There are two Defendants in this case. Defendant Mahita, LLC, d/b/a Pushmycart 21 (“Mahita”), is a Texas limited liability company. Id. ¶ 2. Defendant Mahita “operates an e- 22 commerce business that offers a platform for merchants in India to sell products to consumers in 23 other countries, including the United States.” Id. ¶ 27. On October 21, 2024, Ayush and

24 1 Defendant Mahita agreed to a consent judgment, whereby the Court permanently enjoined 2 Defendant Mahita from, among other things: 3 manufacturing, producing, acquiring, purchasing, importing, receiving, exporting, distributing, circulating, selling, offering for 4 sale, advertising, or promoting in the United States any product that bears one or more of the Ayush Herbs Trademarks, any mark 5 confusingly similar to the Ayush Herbs Trademarks, or any mark that includes the word or term AYUSH as an element of a mark or 6 product name, in connection with the goods or services identified in the Ayush Herbs Trademarks’ registration certificates or related 7 goods or services.

8 Dkt. No. 14 ¶ 19.a. The consent judgment closed the case as to Defendant Mahita, leaving 9 Defendant Nova as the sole remaining Defendant in this action. Id. ¶ 24. 10 Defendant Nova is an Indian company located in Hyderabad, India. Dkt. No. 1 ¶ 3. 11 Defendant Nova is the “main supplier and shipper of goods” to Defendant Mahita. Id. ¶ 28. 12 B. Allegations 13 Working with Defendant Mahita, Defendant Nova supplies and ships to the United States 14 the same kinds of products as Ayush—e.g., “cosmetic, skincare, and haircare products, as well as 15 dietary and herbal supplement products”—but which are “materially different” from those 16 manufactured by Ayush. Id. ¶¶ 27–29, 39, 41, 43. Defendant Nova’s products bear marks that are 17 “confusingly similar to the AYUSH HERBS® and AYUSH® trademarks.” Id. ¶ 43. There are 18 three claims against Defendant Nova. First, Ayush alleges trademark infringement in violation of 19 15 U.S.C. § 1114. Defendant Nova “sell[s] products bearing the infringing ‘Ayush’ marks on the 20 pushmycart.com marketplace bearing numerous unauthorized ‘Ayush’ marks and infringing 21 imported grey market goods.” Id. ¶ 53. The infringing marks are “confusingly similar” to the 22 23 24 1 legitimate trademarks, and the products that bear them are “identical[2] and highly related” to 2 Plaintiff’s products. Id. ¶¶ 54–55. Second, based on these facts, Ayush alleges unfair competition 3 under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a). See id. ¶ 68–76. Third, Ayush alleges unfair competition under 4 Washington law. See id. ¶¶ 77–80.

5 C. Procedural History 6 On May 2, 2024, Ayush commenced the instant action. Dkt. No. 1. On May 3, 2024, the 7 Clerk of Court issued summonses. Dkt. No. 3. After more than three months, however, Ayush 8 still had not filed proof of service for either Defendant, and neither Defendant had appeared. 9 Therefore, on August 27, 2024, the Court issued Ayush an order to show cause as to why it had 10 not served Defendants or otherwise prosecuted its case. Dkt. No. 7. On September 10, 2024, 11 Ayush responded, advising the Court that, as to Defendant Nova, Ayush had submitted the 12 “requisite service forms under [T]he Hague Convention to the India Central Authority,” but that 13 it had not received any information from the Central Authority regarding service. Dkt. No. 8 at 2. 14 Ayush requested a 90-day extension to effect service on Defendant Nova via The Hague

15 Convention. Id. As to Defendant Mahita, Ayush advised that, after making numerous attempts to 16 serve process, the Parties had ultimately negotiated a resolution of Ayush’s claims. Id. at 3. 17 Ayush asserted that, as of the date of its response to the show-cause order, Defendant Mahita was 18 obtaining local counsel that could appear on its behalf and enter a consent judgment. Id. On 19 September 12, 2024, the Court granted the 90-day extension that Ayush had requested. Dkt. 20 No. 10. 21 22

23 2 Defendant Nova’s products are not, strictly speaking, “identical” to Ayush’s products. See, e.g., Dkt. No. 1 ¶¶ 21– 25 (explaining that some of the products bearing the infringing marks “have different characteristics” from Ayush’s 24 legitimate products). What is important here is that Defendant Nova’s products bear the infringing marks. 1 On September 18, 2024, Ayush filed an affidavit of service attesting that Defendant Nova 2 had been served in Hyderabad via The Hague Convention. Dkt. No. 11. On October 17, 2024, 3 Defendant Mahita, having retained counsel, submitted with Ayush a proposed final consent 4 judgment and permanent injunction against Defendant Mahita. Dkt. No. 13. On October 21,

5 2024, the Court entered the judgment as proposed and issued a permanent injunction against 6 Defendant Mahita. Dkt. No. 14. 7 On October 30, 2024, Ayush filed a motion for an entry of default against Defendant 8 Nova (Dkt. No. 15), which the Court granted on November 7, 2024 (Dkt. No. 17). Finally, on 9 January 15, 2025, Ayush filed the instant motion seeking default judgment and entry of a 10 permanent injunction against Defendant Nova. Dkt. No. 21. Despite being served with the 11 Complaint on July 10, 2024 (see Dkt. No.

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Ayush Herbs Inc v. Mahita LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ayush-herbs-inc-v-mahita-llc-wawd-2025.