Laser Spine Institute, LLC v. Playa Advance Surgical Institute, LLC

CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedSeptember 23, 2020
Docket2:18-cv-06920
StatusUnknown

This text of Laser Spine Institute, LLC v. Playa Advance Surgical Institute, LLC (Laser Spine Institute, LLC v. Playa Advance Surgical Institute, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Laser Spine Institute, LLC v. Playa Advance Surgical Institute, LLC, (C.D. Cal. 2020).

Opinion

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7 United States District Court 8 Central District of California 9 10 11 LASER SPINE INSTITUTE, LLC, Case No. 2:18-cv-06920-ODW (JPRx) 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND 13 v. DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR ENTRY OF 14 PLAYA ADVANCE SURGICAL DEFAULT JUDGMENT AGAINST INSTITUTE, LLC d/b/a CALIFORNIA ALL DEFENDANTS [53] 15 LASER SPINE INSTITUTE; SILICON 16 BEACH MEDICAL CENTER INC. d/b/a CALIFORNIA LASER SPINE 17 INSTITUTE, and YOUNG SUN YI d/b/a 18 CALIFORNIA LASER SPINE 19 INSTITUTE Defendants. 20 21 I. INTRODUCTION 22 Before the Court is a Motion for Default Judgment (“Motion”) filed by Laser 23 Spine Institute, LLC (“Plaintiff”) against Playa Advance Surgical Institute, LLC 24 (“Playa”), Silicon Beach Medical Center Inc. (“Silicon”) and Young Sun Yi (“Yi”) 25 (collectively, “Defendants”). (Mot. for Def. J. (“Mot.”), ECF No. 53.) Defendants do 26 27 28 1 not oppose the Motion. For the reasons discussed below, the Court GRANTS in part 2 and DENIES in part Plaintiff’s Motion.1 3 II. BACKGROUND 4 For many years, Plaintiff provided endoscopic procedures across the country to 5 treat various spinal conditions. (Compl. ¶¶ 8–11, ECF No. 2.) Defendants provide the 6 same types of services. (Compl. ¶ 22.) Defendant Yi is a surgeon and the chief 7 executive officer for Defendants Playa and Silicon, corporations conducting business 8 in California. (Compl. ¶ 5.) 9 Plaintiff owns U.S. Trademark Registration Nos. 3,478,447 (the 10 “’447 Registration”) and 4,316,307 (the “’307 Registration”) for the mark “LASER 11 SPINE INSTITUTE” (the “LSI Mark”) in connection with “[m]edical services” and 12 “[m]inimally invasive surgical services, namely, spinal therapies,” respectively. 13 (Compl. Ex. A, ECF No. 2-1; Compl. Ex. B, ECF No. 2-2.) Plaintiff also owns a 14 copyright in certain materials including text, photographs, compilations, and artwork 15 (the “Copyrighted Material”) that were allegedly depicted on Plaintiff’s website, 16 www.laserspineinstitute.com. (Compl. ¶ 19.) 17 Notably, Plaintiff’s website is no longer accessible on the Internet. Instead, the 18 website Plaintiff references in pleadings and briefs, www.laserspineinstitute.com, 19 automatically redirects to a new website, www.lsi-assignee.com (the “Assignee’s 20 Website”). Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors for Laser Spine Institute, 21 https://www.lsi-assignee.com (last visited September 21, 2020). The Assignee’s 22 Website explains that “[o]n March 14, 2019, Laser Spine Institute, LLC . . . executed 23 an irrevocable assignment for the benefit of creditors (also known as an ‘ABC’).” Id. 24 In other words, it appears that Plaintiff has voluntarily transferred its assets to an 25 assignee for the purposes of liquidating the assets, paying Plaintiff’s creditors, and 26 winding down Plaintiff’s business. Id. 27

28 1 After carefully considering the papers filed in support of the Motion, the Court deemed the matter appropriate for decision without oral argument. Fed. R. Civ. P. 78; L.R. 7-15. 1 Defendants’ website, www.californialaserspine.com, uses language, logos, and 2 marks which allegedly infringe on Plaintiff’s intellectual property rights. (Compl. 3 ¶ 26.) For example, much of Defendants’ website employs the Copyrighted Material, 4 verbatim, in describing symptoms associated with conditions that both Plaintiff and 5 Defendants treat. (Compl. ¶ 31; see Mot. Exs. L (ECF No. 53-13), M (ECF 6 No. 53-14), N (ECF No. 53-15), O (ECF No. 53-16).) Plaintiff further cites logos on 7 Defendants’ website displaying the names “California Laser Spine Institute” and 8 “California Laser Spine” as evidence of Defendants’ infringement. (Compl. 9 ¶¶ 24–26.) These logos are prominently displayed in Defendants’ office, on their 10 written promotional materials, and online. (See Mot. Exs. H (ECF No. 53-9), I (ECF 11 No. 53-10), J (ECF No. 53-11), L, M.) Plaintiff also cites a large sign above 12 Defendants’ office, styled CALIFORNIA LASER SPINE INSTITUTE, as evidence of 13 Defendants’ infringement. (Compl. ¶ 23.) 14 On July 23, 2018, Plaintiff sent Defendants a letter instructing Defendants to 15 remedy their ongoing violations, but Defendants failed to respond or stop infringing. 16 (Compl. ¶¶ 34–35.) On August 13, 2018, Plaintiff filed its Complaint alleging that 17 Defendants infringed Plaintiff’s Copyrighted Material and its LSI Mark. (See 18 generally Compl.) Based on these allegations, Plaintiff asserts six claims against 19 Defendants: (1) infringement of the ’447 Registration under 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1); 20 (2) infringement of the ’307 Registration under 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1); (3) unfair 21 competition and false designation of origin under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); (4) unfair 22 competition under California Business and Professions Code § 17200, et. seq.; 23 (5) common law trademark infringement; and (6) copyright infringement under 17 24 U.S.C. §§ 501, et. seq. (Compl. ¶¶ 37–93.) Plaintiff prays for injunctive relief, 25 statutory damages, post-judgment interest, and recovery of attorneys’ fees and costs. 26 (Compl. Prayer for Relief.) 27 Defendants filed an Answer on October 19, 2018. (ECF No. 18.) On 28 September 18, 2019, the Court granted a motion for Defendants’ former counsel to 1 withdraw, ordering Playa and Silicon to retain counsel within forty-five days and 2 advising that non-compliance with Court orders may result in entry of a default 3 judgment. (Order Granting Mot. for Leave to Withdraw as Counsel of Record 4 (“Withdrawal Order”), ECF No. 39.) Defendants have since failed to comply with the 5 Withdrawal Order or participate in this action, leading the Court to strike Defendants’ 6 Answer and the Clerk to enter default. (Order Granting Pl.’s Mot. to Strike Defs.’ 7 Answer, ECF No. 49; Default by Clerk, ECF No. 50.) 8 III. LEGAL STANDARD 9 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(b) authorizes a district court to grant default 10 judgment after the Clerk enters default under Rule 55(a). Local Rule 55-1 requires 11 that the movant establish (1) when and against which party default was entered; 12 (2) identification of the pleading to which default was entered; (3) whether the 13 defaulting party is a minor, incompetent person, or active service member; and (4) that 14 the defaulting party was properly served with notice. 15 A district court has discretion whether to enter default judgment. Aldabe v. 16 Aldabe, 616 F.2d 1089, 1092 (9th Cir. 1980). Upon default, the defendant’s liability 17 generally is conclusively established, and the well-pleaded factual allegations in the 18 complaint are accepted as true. Televideo Sys., Inc. v. Heidenthal, 826 F.2d 915, 19 917–19 (9th Cir. 1987). In exercising its discretion, a court considers several factors, 20 including (1) the possibility of prejudice to plaintiff; (2) the merits of plaintiff’s 21 substantive claim; (3) the sufficiency of the complaint; (4) the sum of money at stake; 22 (5) the possibility of a dispute concerning material facts; (6) whether the defendant's 23 default was due to excusable neglect; and (7) the strong policy underlying the Federal 24 Rules of Civil Procedure favoring decisions on the merits. Eitel v.

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Laser Spine Institute, LLC v. Playa Advance Surgical Institute, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/laser-spine-institute-llc-v-playa-advance-surgical-institute-llc-cacd-2020.