Security USA Services, LLC v. Invariant Corp.

District Court, D. New Mexico·Decided April 7, 2022·No. 1:20-cv-01100·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO _______________________

SECURITY USA SERVICES, LLC,

Plaintiff,

v. No. 1:20-cv-01100-KWR-KRS INVARIANT CORP., and HYPERION TECHNOLOGY GROUP, INC.,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

THIS MATTER comes before the Court upon Plaintiff’s Motion to Set Aside Judgment of January 18, 2022 (Doc. 99). Having reviewed the parties’ pleadings and the applicable law, the Court finds that Plaintiff’s motion is NOT WELL TAKEN and therefore is DENIED. This case is a trademark dispute over threat or gunshot detection systems. Both sides market and sell gunshot detection systems under the “FIREFLY” mark. Plaintiff registered the mark in 2017, but Defendants assert they continuously used the FIREFLY mark in commerce first, as early as 2011. Plaintiff asserted various claims alleging that Defendants infringed on their mark. In a prior opinion the Court granted Defendants’ motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff’s trademark infringement claims. In sum, the Court found that (1) Plaintiff failed to establish prior use as to the FIREFLY mark, foreclosing its infringement claims, and (2) Plaintiff failed to move under Rule 56(d) to delay summary judgment pending discovery. Plaintiff argues that the Court erred in ruling on summary judgment while discovery was pending. Plaintiff also asserts that (1) the Court clearly erred on whether Plaintiff demonstrated a genuine dispute of prior use of the trademark and (2) new evidence compels setting aside summary judgment. Plaintiff essentially seeks to relitigate the motion for summary judgment, repeating arguments it already made or could have made. For the following reasons, the Court rejects Plaintiff’s motion. First, the Court noted in its prior opinion that Plaintiff failed to make a Rule 56(d) argument and affidavit in its response to the motion for summary judgment or in its motion to stay briefing. Plaintiff fails to argue in this motion why that decision was wrong.

Second, Plaintiff’s new exhibits attached to its motion do not change the Court’s analysis in the summary judgment opinion. Moreover, Plaintiff does not state in its motion to set aside (Doc. 99) that it would need additional discovery aside from what it submitted with its motion. To the extent Plaintiff needs additional evidence, it does not explain in the motion to set aside (Doc. 99) with particularity what additional evidence it would present. Third, Plaintiff does not show that the court erred, must less clearly erred, on the merits, based on the record properly before the Court. BACKGROUND I. General Background.

Plaintiff’s first three claims arise under the federal trademark statute, the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1) (federal trademark infringement); 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) (federal unfair competition); and 15 U.S.C. § 1125(c) (dilution under federal law). Plaintiff also asserts claims under New Mexico law, including common law unfair competition and trademark dilution under New Mexico law (NMSA § 57-3B-15). Doc. 1-1. Defendants filed affirmative defenses and counterclaims, asserting that they are the true owners of the mark based on prior and continuous use going back to 2011. Plaintiff requested that the Court issue a preliminary injunction prohibiting Defendants from using the FIREFLY mark. The Court denied the preliminary injunction motion. Defendants moved for summary judgment on Plaintiff’s claims. The Court grant Defendants’ summary judgment motion and dismissed Plaintiff’s claims. Doc. 94. II. Undisputed facts as to summary judgment motion.1 In mid-2011, Defendants began jointly developing their gunshot detection system named FIREFLY. The U.S. Army commissioned and paid for a commercial demonstration of FIREFLY

in August 2011, in Yuma, Arizona. Doc. 61 at 3, Undisputed Material Fact (“UMF”) 1. FIREFLY was completed soon after and was put on sale at an international trade show in San Francisco in December 2011. The first four FIREFLY systems were sold in March 2012. Id., UMF 2. Since its first sale, FIREFLY has been marketed and sold nationwide. Id. at UMF 3. Defendants’ average sales of FIREFLY products are approximately 19 units per year between the years 2012 -2021. Id. at UMF 4. For each system sold, the FIREFLY trademark was placed on the system’s packaging, handbook, and internal circuitry. The name is also prominently displayed on marketing material, including Defendant Invariant’s website. Id. at UMF 5. Plaintiff first began using the FIREFLY mark in connection with its gunshot detection

system on October 1, 2014. Id. at UMF 6. Plaintiff registered the mark on November 7, 2017. Id. at UMF 7. III. Plaintiff’s statement of material facts in its Motion to Set Aside (Doc. 99). Plaintiff asserted material facts in support of its motion to set aside. See doc. 99 at 4-5. The Court addresses them as follows. In its first material fact, Plaintiff asserts that a third party,

1 These facts are taken from the Court’s opinion on summary judgment. See Doc. 94. Initially, the Court notes that Defendants’ summary judgment statement of facts 1-7 are properly supported in the record and not genuinely disputed. Although Plaintiff nominally disputes Defendants’ facts, the Court finds that Plaintiff’s disputes are not responsive or relevant to Defendants’ asserted facts, and therefore Plaintiff does not create genuine disputes as to Defendants’ facts 1-7. Plaintiff asserts its own separate facts, which the Court generally found to be irrelevant or unsupported. See doc. 94. Even if its additional facts were relevant, the Court finds that Plaintiff’s exhibits 1-6, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 171, 18, and 191 (doc. 77) attached to its summary judgment response should be excluded because they rely upon inadmissible hearsay. Battelle, began using the Firefly mark in 2008. The documents supporting this asserted fact were already provided in the prior summary judgment briefing. See Doc. 99-1, 2, 3, 6. None of these exhibits support a finding that Battelle began using the FIREFLY mark in 2008. See Doc. 99-1, 2, 3, 6. Therefore, the Court finds that this asserted fact is unsupported in the record. Exhibits 1 and 2 do not include any date or affidavit showing when they were produced, and do not show that

Battelle used the Firefly mark in commerce such as to establish priority. Doc. 99-1, 2. Rather, they are merely internal documents. Exhibit 3 includes a contingent non-exclusive licensing agreement of copyrightable material “if intellectual property is conceived or first reduced to practice by BATTELLE under this technology assistance.” Doc. 99-3. Here, there is no evidence that the FIREFLY mark was conceived or first reduced to practice under the technology assistance agreement. FIREFLY is not mentioned in the agreement. Moreover, the agreement was signed on March 16, 2014, well after Defendants’ first use of the mark in commerce. Exhibit 6 is an undated cover page for an “application for letters patent.” It does not reference the FIREFLY mark. The cover page lists the “assignee” as Battelle. Exhibit 6 provides no evidence that Battelle

assigned the FIREFLY mark to Plaintiff, or that Battelle established prior use of the mark in commerce. In sum, none of the exhibits cited by Plaintiff supports its assertion that Battelle began using FIREFLY in commerce as early as 2008.

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Security USA Services, LLC v. Invariant Corp., (D.N.M. 2022).

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