WWP, INC. v. Wounded Warriors Family Support, Inc.

628 F.3d 1032, 97 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1688, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 579, 2011 WL 93812
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 12, 2011
Docket10-1794
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 628 F.3d 1032 (WWP, INC. v. Wounded Warriors Family Support, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
WWP, INC. v. Wounded Warriors Family Support, Inc., 628 F.3d 1032, 97 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1688, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 579, 2011 WL 93812 (8th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

RILEY, Chief Judge.

WWP, Inc. d/b/a Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) and Wounded Warriors Family Support, Inc. f/k/a Wounded Warriors, Inc. fik/a Wounded Warriors Hospital *1035 Fund (WWFS) are two distinct charities that assist injured veterans and their families. WWP alleges WWFS sowed confusion on the Internet by using a website to solicit donations intended for WWP, in violation of Nebraska law. After a jury trial, the district court 1 awarded WWP approximately $1.7 million and entered a permanent injunction against WWFS. WWFS appeals. We dismiss in part and affirm in part.

I. BACKGROUND 2

A. WWP

John Melia founded WWP. Melia is a former Green Beret and member of the 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne). In 1992, Melia was a passenger in a CH-46 helicopter that caught fire and exploded over the Red Sea off the coast of Somalia. Melia suffered burns over 20% of his body. 'While recovering in military hospitals around the world, Melia noticed that, although he was receiving first-rate medical treatment, there were “gaps” in the services the armed forces provided to wounded veterans. In 1995, Melia left the military.

In 2002, as wounded veterans began returning to the United States from the Afghanistan War, Melia decided to help. Melia “just wanted to provide something simple, the things that I didn’t have when I came back ... like underwear and socks and a calling card and a backpack to carry my stuff in.” Melia founded WWP in the basement of his Virginia home and, with the donations he collected, delivered backpacks stocked with care and comfort items to nearby military hospitals.

In the ensuing years, WWP has greatly expanded its offerings to wounded veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. Today WWP provides bedside training about veterans’ and social security disability benefits, an adaptive sports program, college preparatory courses, and small group combat stress counseling. In partnership with Trek Bicycle Corp., which donates custom-made bicycles to disabled veterans, WWP sponsors Soldier Ride.

WWP employs over 100 people and spends 75% to 82% of donations directly on wounded soldiers and their families. In 2008, WWP spent $39 million. Advertising, marketing, and other public relations activities allow WWP “to tell stories of wounded warriors and the way that [WWP] has helped them in order to drive up an interest and a public awareness about [WWP’s] cause.” WWP sends over ten million mailers annually and appears on a “massive amount” of television and radio shows. 3 WWP has “become synonymous with veteran service to this generation of wounded veterans and their families.”

WWP operates two websites, wounded-warrior.org and woundedwarriorproject.org, which were first registered in January 2003 and March 2004, respectively. In 2005, WWP registered its now famous trademark, which depicts one soldier carrying another soldier on his back.

B. WWFS

In 2003, Colonel John Folsom founded the Wounded Warriors Hospital Fund dur *1036 ing his military service in Germany. Folsom is a resident of Omaha, Nebraska, a Marine helicopter pilot, and a veteran of Operation Desert Storm. He is also a licensed realtor and a former stockbroker.

Folsom believed the military was ill-prepared to help wounded soldiers returning from combat concerning “morale and comfort items.” In early 2003, Folsom organized small fundraising events in Germany, such as “brat sales,” ultimately raising $1,500 under the Wounded Warrior Hospital Fund moniker. Folsom used the funds he raised to purchase electronic equipment, sweat suits, and chewing tobacco for wounded soldiers in Germany. Folsom also developed a website to solicit donations, woundedwarriorhospitalfund.org.

In 2004, Folsom incorporated Wounded Warriors Hospital Fund as Wounded Warriors, Inc. and started a new website, woundedwarriors.org. Folsom contemporaneously moved the charity’s operations to the United States. WWFS used incoming donations to buy computers, which Folsom shipped to military hospitals throughout the United States. At all relevant times, WWFS conducted little to no advertising, fundraising, or marketing, instead relying on networking and its websites to receive donations.

Donations to WWFS increased dramatically upon the launch of the woundedwarriors.org website. In 2006, WWFS bought condominiums in Florida and Texas with the donations. WWFS offers the condominiums to wounded veterans and their families for vacations. The condominiums’ occupancy rate for soldiers and others staying for free is only approximately 30%, so WWFS rents the condominiums to others at a profit when wounded veterans, their families, or WWFS’s employees are not staying in them.

C. Dispute

By 2004, Melia discovered Wounded Warrior Hospital Fund on the Internet. Melia sent Folsom an email, in which Melia pointed out the two charities were engaging in similar work, but said, “You’re in Germany, I’m here.” Melia was not concerned about potential confusion between the two charities in the public eye, because he “didn’t think that we were in any way crossing each other.” Melia offered to help Folsom in his fundraising efforts, although Folsom declined. WWFS later listed WWP on its woundedwarriorhospitalfund.org website, as one of its “pass-through” charities, and twice donated to WWP.

Melia became concerned about confusion in 2004, when Folsom renamed his charity “Wounded Warrior, Inc.,” moved its operations to the United States, and established the woundedwarriors.org website. The website was very similar to WWP’s website, woundedwarrior.org. Folsom changed the website’s color scheme and font and the text phraseology to mimic WWP’s website. Folsom placed a disclaimer at the bottom of WWFS’s new homepage in a difficult-to-read typeface with cream on white coloring.

When giving money to WWP, donors would often write checks in shorthand to ‘Wounded Warriors.” Melia feared Folsom’s actions would engender “major confusion” among potential donors.

D. Misdirected Donations

After Folsom launched the woundedwarriors.org website, WWP was “contacted by individuals indicating there was some confusion and that people were trying to reach [WWP] and instead reaching [WWFS].” Years later, during discovery in the instant lawsuit, WWP learned WWFS was receiving and cashing a large number of checks intended for WWP. *1037 Some checks were made payable to “Wounded Warriors Project”; other checks were accompanied by correspondence indicating support for WWP or mentioning one of WWP’s marketing or fund-raising efforts. For example, in 2007, WWFS received a $100 donation “For Jerrod’s week in Alaska” immediately after WWP had publicized providing an Alaskan rehabilitation trip for a wounded veteran named Jerrod. WWFS simply cashed and deposited every check sent to WWFS’s address. 4

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628 F.3d 1032, 97 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1688, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 579, 2011 WL 93812, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wwp-inc-v-wounded-warriors-family-support-inc-ca8-2011.