Niagara Bottling, LLC v. CC1 Ltd.

381 F. Supp. 3d 175
CourtUnited States District Court
DecidedMay 14, 2019
DocketCivil No. 18-1414 (DRD)
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 381 F. Supp. 3d 175 (Niagara Bottling, LLC v. CC1 Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States District Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Niagara Bottling, LLC v. CC1 Ltd., 381 F. Supp. 3d 175 (usdistct 2019).

Opinion

Daniel R. Domínguez, United States District Judge

Pending before the Court is Defendant CC1 Limited Partnership d/b/a Coca-Cola Puerto Rico Bottlers' ("Defendant") Motion to Dismiss and Motion to Strike . See Docket Nos. 12 and 25. Plaintiff Niagara Bottling, LLC ("Plaintiff") opposed. See Docket No. 38. Defendant replied to the opposition. See Docket No. 43. Plaintiff, then, sur-replied. See Docket No. 48. For the reasons stated herein, the Court DENIES Defendant's Motion to Dismiss .

*179I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY AND RELEVANT FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff is the owner of federal trademark registrations for Eco-Air Bottle word mark in International Class 32 and Eco-Air Package work mark in International Cass 16 ("collectively "Eco-Air Marks"); along with common law rights ("Composite Marks"). See Docket No. 15 at 4. Plaintiff alleges that in 2016, the Defendant began selling its water bottle with a "mark confusingly similar" to the one Plaintiff uses. Id. at 6. As a result thereof, Plaintiff sent an initial infringement letter to Defendant, demanding "that [Defendant] cease[s] and desist[s] from continuing infringing its marks." Id. at 8. On January 2, 2017, both parties signed a Settlement Agreement to avoid litigation. The Settlement Agreement stated Defendant would not use "[Plaintiff's] marks, or any mark confusingly similar thereto." Id. They further agreed the Defendant would dispose of all "existing inventory" and not sell inventory with similar marks after October 31, 2016 ("phase-out date"). Id. at 9.

Now, Plaintiff contends that on June 2017, the Defendant "continued to advertise, manufacture, produce, distribute, and offer for sale in Puerto Rico Nikini Products bearing the Infringing Marks after the phase-out date ..." Id. at 9. Accordingly, Plaintiff sent the Defendant a letter as a reminder of the phase-out date, for the remaining "existing inventory." Id. Plaintiff further forewarned the Defendant that if they did not "immediately cease and desist from continuing its deliberate infringement ... within fourteen days ... [Plaintiff] would be forced to seek legal action." Id. The Defendant replied that the "existing inventory" that was being sold was "purportedly manufactured prior to the Settlement Agreement's phase-out date." Id. at 10.

Plaintiff alleges the Defendant had "either actual or constructive knowledge of [Plaintiff's] ownership of rights in its federally registered Eco-Air Marks prior to its adoption and use of the Infringing Mark." Id. at 12. Consequently, the Defendant is incurring in a violation of section 43 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) by causing "confusion, mistake, and deceit in the minds of the public by leading the public to believe that [Plaintiff] ha[d] approved, sponsored or otherwise associated itself with [Defendant's] infringing products." Id. at 13.

Furthermore, Plaintiff argues that the Defendant "contractually agreed that it would not manufacture, distribute, sell and/or advertise any of its infringing products after the Settlement Agreement's phase-out date." Id. at 14. Thus, the Defendant "materially breached the Settlement Agreement by continuing to use the Infringing Mark in the advertising of its Nikini products [and] by continuing to manufacture, distribute, and sell products bearing the Infringing Mark" Id. As a result thereof, the Defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss for failure to plead a claim upon which relief can be granted. See Docket No. 25. A careful scrutiny of the underlying legal framework is required in order to rule upon the pending motion.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW FOR MOTION TO DISMISS

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) requires plaintiff to provide "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). Under Bell Atlantic v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), a plaintiff must "provide the grounds of his entitlement [with] more than labels and conclusions." See Ocasio-Hernandez v. Fortuño-Burset , 640 F.3d 1, 12 (1st Cir. 2011) ("in *180order to 'show' an entitlement to relief a complaint must contain enough factual material 'to raise a right to relief above the speculative level on the assumption that all the allegations in the complaint are true (even if doubtful in fact).')(quoting Twombly , 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 ) (citation omitted). Thus, a plaintiff must, and is now required to, present allegations that "nudge [his] claims across the line from conceivable to plausible" in order to comply with the requirements of Rule 8(a). Id. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955 ; see e.g. Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937,

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381 F. Supp. 3d 175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/niagara-bottling-llc-v-cc1-ltd-usdistct-2019.