C & N Corp. v. Kane

953 F. Supp. 2d 903, 2013 WL 2947777, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84167
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedJune 14, 2013
DocketCase No. 12-C-0257
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 953 F. Supp. 2d 903 (C & N Corp. v. Kane) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
C & N Corp. v. Kane, 953 F. Supp. 2d 903, 2013 WL 2947777, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84167 (E.D. Wis. 2013).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

WILLIAM C. GRIESBACH, Chief-Judge.

Plaintiff C & N Corporation, doing business as Door Peninsula Winery (DPW), filed this action alleging Defendants Illinois River Winery, Inc. (IRW) and its owner, Gregory Kane, are infringing' on DPW’s rights by selling a spiced apple wine called “Hallowine.” DPW contends it has protectable rights in the HALLOWINE and DOOR COUNTY HALLOWINE trademarks, and that Defendants’ sales of their Hallowine product in Illinois and Wisconsin causes customer confusion. DPW brought claims for (1) federal trademark infringement and unfair competition in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1114; (2) false designation of origin and unfair competition pursuant to § 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); and (3) common law trademark infringement and unfair competition. Before me now is DPW’s motion for partial summary judgment. DPW seeks judgment in its favor as to all of Defendants’ affirmative defenses, as well as its claims for trademark infringement of its rights in the HALLOWINE word mark under § 1125(a) and state common law. DPW also seeks summary judgment that it is éntitled to recover Defendants’ profits for their infringing sales in the amount of $508,864.26. For the reasons that follow, DPW’s motion will be granted.

BACKGROUND

The basic facts of this case are largely undisputed. DPW, a winery located in Door County, Wisconsin, sells a spiced apple wine called Hallowine. They received label approval from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms for Hallowine in 1996 and began selling and distributing its Hallowine product in both Wisconsin and Illinois in 1998. Defendant Illinois River Winery began selling wine in 2003, and some time thereafter, also offered for sale a spiced apple wine under the name Hallowine. On March 20, 2006, Defendants submitted an application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for federal registration of the word mark HALLOWINE. Upon learning of the application, DPW initiated an opposition proceeding on December 21, 2006.

The PTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) issued a decision in the opposition proceeding on October 21, 2008 after receiving summary judgment evidence and briefing. The TTAB granted DPW’s motion for summary judgment, sustaining the opposition and refusing IRWs application for registration. In so deciding, the TTAB found no genuine dispute that DPW had priority in the HALLOWINE word mark and that there was a likelihood of confusion between DPW’s use. of the HALLOWINE mark on its wine product and the defendants’ use of the same mark on their wine product. Defendants did not appeal the TTAB ruling.

Following the October 2008 TTAB ruling, DPW sought federal registration of the HALLOWINE word mark. However, it abandoned its application for federal registration on January 18, 2011 after becoming involved in an opposition proceeding with another winery. DPW subsequently applied for and obtained federal registration of related design plus words, letters, and/or numbers marks in March 2011. Thereafter, DPW filed the present lawsuit against Kane and IRW on March 16, 2012.

[908]*908LEGAL STANDARD

A motion for summary judgment should be granted when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). “Material” means that the factual dispute must be outcome-determinative under governing law. Contreras v. City of Chicago, 119 F.3d 1286, 1291 (7th Cir.1997). A “genuine” issue of material fact requires specific and sufficient evidence that, if believed by a jury, would actually support a verdict in the non-movant’s favor. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The moving party has the burden of showing there are no facts to support the non-moving party’s claim. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548. In determining whether to grant a motion for summary judgment, the court should consider the evidence presented in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505. When the record, taken as a whole, could not lead a rational jury to find for the non-moving party, there is no genuine issue and therefore no reason to go to trial. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).

ANALYSIS

As an initial matter, Defendants appear to have dispensed with several procedural requirements in conducting this litigation. To begin with, in support of their brief in opposition to DPW’s motion for summary judgment, Defendants filed a Statement of Proposed Material Facts on April 17, 2013. Defendants’ proposed findings of fact repeatedly cite to the April 9, 2013 deposition of Robert Pollman, DPW’s designated Rule 30(b)(6) corporate representative. Along with the statement of facts, Defendants filed an affidavit of Margery Tibbetts-Wakefield, swearing, among other things, that a copy of the Pollman deposition transcript was attached and filed as an exhibit to the affidavit.

However, the Pollman deposition was not filed in the record. DPW pointed out this fact in its reply brief filed May 1, 2013. Several days later, on May 8, 2013, Defendants filed a motion to seal, moving the Court to enter, an “order sealing the deposition transcript of Robert Pollman submitted to the Court by Defendants” and representing that the “deposition transcript was attempted to be filed with Defendant’s [sic] Summary Judgment opposition materials and was unsuccessful.” (ECF No. 44.) The deposition was still not filed in the. record, sealed or not. In an order dated May 14, 2013, 2013 WL 2087499, the Court ordered that the defendants show cause within seven days why the Pollman deposition should be included in the record. Counsel for the defendants then represented in a hearing held May 17, 2013 that due to technical errors, Defendants mistakenly thought the deposition had been properly filed under seal. The Court stated it would accept the late filing of the deposition, and ordered DPW to designate portions of the deposition that should be redacted or filed under seal within 10 days from the date of the hearing. The deposition transcript, still not filed, DPW filed a response to the Courfis May 17 order on May 28, 2013, explaining, essentially, that it had nothing to respond to as it could not designate portions of a deposition that did not exist in the record. Without explanation, Defendants neglected to correct its errors or to file the Pollman deposition in the record until May 31, 2013.

In addition, Defendants failed to respond to DPW’s Statement of Proposed [909]*909Material Facts.

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Bluebook (online)
953 F. Supp. 2d 903, 2013 WL 2947777, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/c-n-corp-v-kane-wied-2013.