Combe Inc. v. Dr. Aug. Wolff GmbH & Co. KG Arzneimittel

309 F. Supp. 3d 414
District Court, E.D. Virginia·Decided March 28, 2018·No. Case No. 1:17–cv–935·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

T.S. Ellis, III, United States District Judge

Defendant, a German manufacturer of medicinal, cosmetic and dermatological products, filed an application with the United States Patent & Trademark Office ("PTO") Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ("TTAB") to register the mark VAGISAN for use on pharmaceutical and sanitary preparations in the United States. Plaintiff, a domestic manufacturer of competing products sold under the registered mark VAGISIL, filed an opposition to defendant's application. The TTAB ultimately ruled in favor of defendant, finding there was no likelihood of confusion between plaintiff's VAGISIL mark and defendant's proposed VAGISAN mark. Plaintiff now appeals this TTAB decision pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1071(b)(1) and, as that statute permits, asserts additional federal and state claims against defendant for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and unfair competition.

Defendant now seeks dismissal of these additional claims, arguing that the complaint has not alleged facts to establish the statutorily-required "use in commerce" of the allegedly infringing mark. At issue, therefore, on defendant's threshold dismissal motion pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Fed. R. Civ. P., is whether plaintiff can sue defendant for trademark infringement, dilution, or unfair competition where, as here, a defendant has not sold or transported a good with the allegedly infringing mark in Virginia, or anywhere in the United States.

I.1

Plaintiff, Combe Incorporated, is a Delaware corporation and a leading maker of personal-care products for men and women. In particular, since approximately 1973, plaintiff has offered and sold a wide variety of women's personal care products, including medicated creams, moisturizers, deodorant powders, wipes, gels, washes *417and other products, under the trademark VAGISIL. Defendant, Dr. August Wolff GmbH & Co. KG Arzneimmitel, is a German limited liability partnership that manufactures medicinal, cosmetic and dermatological products, including feminine products under the label VAGISAN. Defendant maintains its headquarters in Bielefeld, Germany and has no offices or employees in the United States. Defendant's products are authorized for sale primarily in Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Serbia/Montenegro, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Turkey, Hungary, and the United Kingdom. At this time, defendant has not yet sold any products in the United States but has taken the following steps toward entering the United States market:2

• since October 25, 2011, defendant has maintained a website at "www.vagisan.com" with links to third party pharmacies where consumers can purchase products bearing the VAGISAN mark. Defendant's products are also available for purchase via third party pharmacies on Amazon.com.
• on January 24, 2012, defendant filed United States Trademark Application Serial No. 79/111,922 ("the '922 Application") with the PTO to register the mark VAGISAN for "pharmaceutical preparations, namely, vaginal moisturizers, vaginal anti-fungal preparations, vaginal washes; sanitary preparations for medical use; diet pills, diet capsules, diet liquid medications" and "soaps, perfumery, essential oils, cosmetics, hair lotions." Compl. ¶ 26.
• on March 14, 2012, representatives from defendant met in Germany with representatives from a United States based drugstore, Lil Drugstore, about potential distribution of VAGISAN products.
• on January 2, 2013, defendant provided a United States based consultant with three Powerpoint slides with regulatory information on VAGISAN Moisturizing Cream and Moisturizing Cream Combi for a presentation at a J.P. Morgan Investors Conference scheduled to take place in the United States
• in June 2014, defendant filed an application with the United States Food & Drug Administration ("FDA") for approval of the VAGISAN Vaginal Moisturizing Cream and Wash products within the United States.

Shortly after defendant filed the '922 Application with the TTAB in 2012, plaintiff filed an opposition to the application, arguing that defendant's use of a VAGISAN mark in the United States would create a likelihood of confusion with plaintiff's existing registered VAGSIL mark. During the course of these TTAB proceedings, defendant testified under oath that it has not, and will not, sell products bearing the VAGISAN mark in the United States unless and until the trademark application dispute with plaintiff is resolved. See Thevessen TTAB Dep. 34:11-21. Following consideration of evidence submitted by the parties, the TTAB issued a final decision on June 19, 2017, dismissing plaintiff's opposition on the ground that the VAGISAN

*418mark did not so resemble the VAGISIL mark as to be likely to cause "confusion," "mistake," or "deception" pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1052. See Combe Inc. v. Dr. August Wolff GmbH & Co. KGArzneimittel, Opposition No. 91209708 (TTAB June 19, 2017).

Thereafter, plaintiff filed this action on August 21, 2017 pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1071(b)(4), which allows a party otherwise entitled to appeal a TTAB decision to institute a suit against the party in interest in the Eastern District of Virginia.3 In addition to its appeal of the final TTAB decision on registration of the VAGISAN mark, plaintiff brings the following federal and state claims against defendant:

(i) a claim for trademark infringement under the Lanham Act (Count II);
(ii) a claim for trademark infringement, false designation of origin, passing off, and unfair competition under the Lanham Act (Count III);
(iii) a claim for trademark dilution under the Lanham Act (Count IV);
(iv) a claim for trademark infringement under the Virginia Trademark and Service Mark Act ("VTSMA") (Count V); and
(v) a claim for trademark infringement and unfair competition under Virginia common law (Count VI).

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Combe Inc. v. Dr. Aug. Wolff GmbH & Co. KG Arzneimittel, 309 F. Supp. 3d 414 (E.D. Va. 2018).

309 F. Supp. 3d 414 (Combe Inc. v. Dr. Aug. Wolff GmbH & Co. KG Arzneimittel) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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