U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
The Seventh Circuit affirmed a $739,500 trademark judgment in favor of Grunt Style LLC, finding that Grunt Style’s use of the Army motto ‘This We’ll Defend’ since 2011 gave it common-law priority over TWD, LLC’s 2014 use and 2015 federal registration.
The Seventh Circuit ruled that email service on Chinese defendants in Schedule A trademark counterfeiting cases is improper under the Hague Service Convention, but remanded for the district court to determine whether the Convention applies.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of right of publicity, doxing, and defamation claims arising from Facebook dating-group posts, holding that Meta’s ad-based revenue model does not create a ‘commercial purpose’ under Illinois law merely because advertisements appear near user-generated content featuring someone’s likeness.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed a $2,000 statutory damages award in a trademark counterfeiting and cybersquatting default case, holding that obtaining a default judgment alone does not excuse a plaintiff from proving up its damages request.