Florida Van Rentals, Inc. v. Auto Mobility Sales, Inc.

85 F. Supp. 3d 1300, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4451, 2015 WL 179294
District Court, M.D. Florida·Decided January 14, 2015·No. Case No. 8:13-cv-1732-T-36EAJ·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

ORDER

CHARLENE EDWARDS HONEYWELL, District Judge.

This cause comes before the Court upon the Defendant Auto Mobility Sales, Inc.’s (“Auto Mobility”) Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 32). Plaintiffs Florida Van Rentals, Inc. d/b/a Discount Mobility USA (“FLVR”) and Medical Travel, Inc. (“MT”) responded in opposition to the motion (Doc. 43). The Court held oral argument on the motion on December 22, 2014. Doc. 72. The Court, having considered the parties’ submissions, including depositions [1302] and declarations, and the oral argument, and being fully advised in the premises, will now GRANT Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment.

I. STATEMENT OF FACTS1

This trademark dispute arises from Auto Mobility’s use of three unregistered marks owned by FLVR and MT. FLVR is a business that specializes in the rental of various types of vans, including handicap accessible vans and non-emergency wheelchair accessible vans. Doc. 43-1 (“Goldberg Deck”) ¶ 5. In August 2010, Discount Mobility USA, Inc. merged into FLVR, giving FLVR the rights to the trademarks “Discount Mobility” and “Discount Mobility USA.” Id. ¶ 4. MT is a medical travel agency that caters to patients with special medical needs. Doc. 1 (“Compl.”) ¶ 15. Among other things, it arranges cruises and land vacations for dialysis patients, patients with respiratory problems, and wheelchair-bound travelers. Compl. ¶ 16. It claims rights to the trademark “Medical Travel.”

FLVR and MT allege that Auto Mobility infringed their trademarks by its use of the trademarked phrases in its online advertisements. Specifically, Auto Mobility came to use these phrases as follows: From November 1, 2012 to August 6, 2013, Auto Mobility ran an advertising campaign that used the keywords “discount” and “mobility” together to trigger. Google AdWords advertisements. Doc. 36 ¶ 31. During that same time period, Auto Mobility’s advertising campaign also used the keywords “medical” and “travel” together to trigger Google AdWords advertisements, Id. ¶ 32. Auto Mobility’s advertising campaign utilized the “dynamic keyword insertion” feature of Google Ad-Words. Id. ¶ 33. As a consequence, when Internet users searched for a combination of these terms on Google, these phrases appeared in the title of Auto Mobility’s online advertisements. Id. ¶ 30; see also Doc. 35-1.

On July 3, 2013, Plaintiffs filed a six count complaint against Defendant for trademark infringement and unfair competition under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1051 et seq., trademark infringement under Florida law, and deceptive and unfair trade practices under Florida statutory arid common law. Auto Mobility now moves for summary judgment, arguing that Plaintiffs do not have protectable interests in their trademarks. Auto Mobility argues also that Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate a likelihood of confusion or that they have suffered any damages from Auto Mobility’s use of their trademarks.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Summary judgment is appropriate when the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, show there is no genuine issue- as to any material fact and that 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). The moving party bears the initial burden of stating the basis for its motion and identifying those portions of the record demonstrating the absence of genuine issues of material fact. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323,106 S.Ct. 2548; Hickson Corp. v. N. Crossarm Co., 357 F.3d 1256, 1259-60 (11th Cir.2004). That burden can be discharged if the moving party can show the court that there is “an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case.” Celotex, 477 U.S. at 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

[1303] When the moving party has discharged its burden, the nonmoving party must then designate specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue of material fact. Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. Issues of fact are “genuine only if a reasonable jury, considering the evidence present, could find for the nonmoving party,” and a fact is “material” if it may affect the outcome of the suit under governing law. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248-49, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In determining whether a genuine issue of material fact exists, the court must consider all the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. However, a party cannot defeat summary judgment by relying upon conclusory allegations. See Hill v. Oil Dri Corp. of Ga., 198 Fed.Appx. 852, 858 (11th Cir.2006).

III. DISCUSSION

To prevail on a claim of trademark infringement in violation of 15 U.S.C. 1125(a), a claimant must show “(1) that it had prior rights to the mark at issue and (2) that the defendant had adopted a mark or name that was the same, or confusingly similar to its mark, such that consumers were likely to confuse the two.” Planetary Motion, Inc. v. Techsplosion, Inc., 261 F.3d 1188, 1193 (11th Cir.2001). The elements of common law and statutory trademark infringement are the same. See Tally-Ho, Inc. v. Coast Community College District, 889 F.2d 1018, 1025-26 (11th Cir.1989). Likewise, the legal standard for unfair competition is the same as that for trademark infringement under both the Lanham Act and common law. See Knights Armament Co. v. Optical Sys. Tech., Inc., 568 F.Supp.2d 1369, 1376 (M.D.Fla.2008); Anderson v. Upper Keys Business Grp., Inc., 61 So.3d 1162, 1167 (Fla. 3d DCA2011).

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Florida Van Rentals, Inc. v. Auto Mobility Sales, Inc., 85 F. Supp. 3d 1300, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4451, 2015 WL 179294 (M.D. Fla. 2015).

85 F. Supp. 3d 1300 (Florida Van Rentals, Inc. v. Auto Mobility Sales, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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