Cardinal Motors, Inc. v. H&H Sports Protection USA Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMay 4, 2021
Docket1:20-cv-07899
StatusUnknown

This text of Cardinal Motors, Inc. v. H&H Sports Protection USA Inc. (Cardinal Motors, Inc. v. H&H Sports Protection USA Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cardinal Motors, Inc. v. H&H Sports Protection USA Inc., (S.D.N.Y. 2021).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK te ne eee een neceenenn CARDINAL MOTORS, INC., : Plaintiff, : 1:20-cv-07899-PAC

- against - : OPINION & ORDER H&H SPORTS PROTECTION USA, INC., : Defendant. : pene eee teen annmenenennn cece ncecenennn KX Defendant H&H Sports Protection USA, Inc. “Defendant,” “H&H”) moves, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), to dismiss Plaintiff Cardinal Motors, Inc.’s! “Plaintiff,” “Cardinai”) Amended Complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Alternatively, Defendant asks for a more definite statement of the Amended Complaint, pursuant to Rule 12(e). Finally, Defendant asks the Court, pursuant to Rule 12(f), to strike from the Amended Complaint Plaintiff's allegations concerning Defendant’s purported infringement of Plaintiff's design patent as alleged in Cardinal’s original complaint, but now dropped. H&H has numerous objections to the Amended Complaint’s sufficiency, but chief among them is Cardinal’s failure to adequately set forth the elements of its purported trade dress. Mem. of Law Supp. Mot. Dismiss (“Mot. Dismiss”), 1, 4-9, ECF No. 24~1. Unless the Court has an

' Tn referring to Cardinal as a corporation, the Court follows the captioning of this case as it appears on the ECF docket and in the parties’ filings. In its Amended Complaint, however, Cardinal alleges that it is a limited liability company. Am. Compl. § 1, ECF No. 16. Of course, whether Cardinal is a corporation or an L.L.C. is relevant to deciphering its citizenship for purposes of determining whether the Court has diversity jurisdiction over the action. But discerning Cardinal’s citizenship is unnecessary here, because the Court has original jurisdiction over Cardinal’s 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) (“Lanham Act § 43(a)”) claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and 15 U.S.C. § 1121, and original jurisdiction over Cardinal’s state unfair competition claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1338(b) (because they are joined with a substantial and related claim under the Lanham Act, a trademark law).

adequate definition of what deserves protection, it cannot confidently assess the further questions of whether (i) Plaintiff has plausibly alleged that its trade dress is distinctive and nonfunctional, and (ii} Defendant’s alleged infringement is likely to cause consumer confusion between the parties’ products, Thus, Plaintiff's failure to specify the character and scope of its trade dress is dispositive here; the Amended Complaint is dismissed without prejudice, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6). BACKGROUND Plaintiff is a corporate entity “in the business of designing for sale and licensing motorcycle helmets with distinctive designs.” Am. Compl. { 1, ECF No. 16. Defendant is a corporation that “manufactures and sells motorcycle helmets.” fd. at 2. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s “Tore-1” motorcycle helmet, which Defendant offers for sale in interstate commerce, is an unlawful copy of Plaintiff's motorcycle helmet, the “Bullitt.” Id. at [J 19, 38. Plaintiff's Amended Complaint alleges two causes of action. Count One is “Federal Unfair Competition and Trade Dress Infringement,” and Count Two is “Common Law and State Statutory Unfair Competition.” Jd. at 15, 18.?

* The allegations accompanying these titles make Plaintiffs causes of action somewhat unclear. Count One appears to be a claim for unregistered trade dress infringement under § 43(a) of the Lanham Act, and the parties treat it as such in their briefs. See Mot. Dismiss 3; Opp’n 2, 8, 10— 11, ECF No. 26; Reply 1, ECF No. 27. Thus, the Court will also treat Count One as a claim for unregistered trade dress infringement, which is a subspecies of unfair competition, Carson Optical, Inc. v. Prym Consumer USA, Inc., 11 F. Supp. 3d 317, 335 (E.D.N.Y. 2014), despite Plaintiff's recitation of the terms “false designation of origin” (“which is also referred to as a claim for unfair competition,” Van Praagh v. Gratton, 993 F. Supp. 2d 293, 301 (E.D.N.Y. 2014)), “false description and representation” (also known as “false advertising,” Pulse Creations, Inc. v. Vesture Grp., Inc., 154 F. Supp. 3d 48, 56 (S.D.N.Y. 2015) (cleaned up)), and “dilution” of trade dress. Am. Compl. § 41. While “false description and representation” and “trade dress dilution” also arise under § 43(a) of the Lanham Act, those claims have different elements than trade dress infringement, and those elements have not been adequately alleged. See Pulse Creations, 154 F. Supp. 3d at 56-57 (describing elements of false advertising claim); Lanham Act § 43(c}(4) (describing elements of trade dress dilution claim). Count Two alleges

Plaintiff defines its trade dress as “(t]he sculptural and graphic design of The Bullitt (hereinafter, the ‘Trade Dress’), namely its sculptural configuration and/or its graphic and tonal finish design features, [which] is a protectable trade dress under §[]43(a) of the Lanham Act by virtue of extensive sales, publicity and online presence.” Jd. at 117. Plaintiff alleges that “[t]he Bullitt is notable for its distinctive styling with a large eye port, a distinctive silhouette and relatively thin chin bar.” Jd. at § 11. Exhibit A, attached to the Amended Complaint, is Cardinal’s design patent for a motorcycle helmet, “which design elements are to various extents incorporated into the Trade Dress.” Am. Compl. Ex. A, ECF No. 16; Am. Compl. { 33. Exhibit A contains only drawings, without any descriptions of the patent’s features. See Am. Compl. Ex. A. Plaintiff goes on to state that “[w]hile The Bullitt allows for personal stylization, mainly in terms of color, the various versions . . . exhibitthe [sic] distinctive substance of the design which has come to be associated with Plaintiff as the originator.” Am. Compl. J 11. Unfortunately for Plaintiff, saying it does not make it so. The Amended Complaint also contains nine side-by-side photo comparisons of the Bullitt and the Torc-1 or their various pieces, but the pictures are no substitute for the specific language the law requires. Descriptions of similarities between the Bullitt and the Torc-1 accompany these photos; Plaintiff argues that this “copying” is evidence of H&H’s intent to confuse consumers with a similar product. /d. at f] 20-28. Plaintiff uses phrases like: “both helmets have brown leather-like arc segments, metallic bottom trim and a brown leather trim patch,” and “the chinstraps are rectangular nylon straps that terminate in a semicircle with a contrasting snap, as illustrated below.” Id. at J] 22, 23. Other allegations are more specific: “The original and

unfair competition under New York and California common law and statutory law but does not identify the statutes Plaintiffs claims are based on. Am. Compl. 18.

copied [cheek]pads are both a jig saw puzzle part V-shape and made of diamond-perforated pseudo-suede brown material. Both have leather on the edges that connects the diamond perforated pseudo-suede material to the back piece.” fd. at J 24. Plaintiff further alleges that Defendant’s Torc-1 helmet infringes upon Plaintiff's Trade Dress, which has caused Plaintiff millions of dollars of damages, while garnering Defendant millions of dollars of “unjust” profit. Id.

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Cardinal Motors, Inc. v. H&H Sports Protection USA Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cardinal-motors-inc-v-hh-sports-protection-usa-inc-nysd-2021.