Justia U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

A Kentucky high school intended to administer a mental-health survey to its students. Concerned about the survey’s contents, a parent requested a copy under the Kentucky Open Records Act, aiming to share it with other parents and reporters. The school denied her request, citing a provision of the state law that excludes records “prohibited by federal law or regulation” from disclosure, and argued that the survey was copyrighted by its publisher, NCS Pearson. The school did allow her to inspect the survey in person, but would not provide a copy.The parent, Miranda Stovall, did not pursue available state remedies, such as review by the Kentucky Attorney General or a state court appeal. Instead, she filed suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, seeking a declaratory judgment that releasing the survey would fall under the fair-use exception in federal copyright law. NCS Pearson moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, and the district court dismissed the case, finding that Stovall’s claim did not arise under federal law.The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reviewed the district court’s decision. The appellate court held that federal jurisdiction was lacking because Stovall’s claim arose under state law, not the Copyright Act, and did not “necessarily raise” a substantial federal question. The court found that copyright law entered the dispute only as a defense to the state-law claim, and that potential future infringement actions did not establish Article III standing. The court affirmed the district court’s dismissal for lack of federal subject-matter jurisdiction. View "Stovall v. Jefferson Cnty. Bd. of Education" on Justia Law

Tammy Livingston, individually and as a beneficiary and co-trustee of the Livingston Music Interest Trust, sued her mother, Travilyn Livingston, over the termination of copyright assignments and associated royalties for songs authored by Jay Livingston. Jay had assigned his copyright interests in several songs to a music publishing company owned by Travilyn. Travilyn later invoked her statutory right to terminate these copyright grants and filed termination notices with the U.S. Copyright Office. Tammy challenged these terminations, claiming her rights as a beneficiary were affected.The United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee dismissed Tammy's complaint, holding that it failed to state a claim. Tammy appealed the decision, arguing that the termination notices were ineffective, defective, or invalid, and that she retained a state law right to receive royalties from the songs covered by the terminated agreements.The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reviewed the case and affirmed the district court's dismissal. The court held that the 2003 California probate court order, which declared that the Family Trust held no ownership interests in Jay's copyrights, precluded Tammy's claims. The court also found that Jay had validly executed the copyright grants as an individual, not as a trustee, and that Travilyn owned Jay Livingston Music at the time of the assignments. Additionally, the court rejected Tammy's arguments regarding the termination notices' compliance with federal requirements, noting that she failed to plead specific factual allegations for most of the notices. Finally, the court held that Tammy did not identify a state law basis for her claim to royalties, thus failing to meet the pleading standards under Civil Rule 12(b)(6). View "Livingston v. Jay Livingston Music, Inc." on Justia Law

Kevin Lavery, an ophthalmologist, invented a vision screening device and patented it. He entered into an agreement with Pursuant Health, a company developing vision screening kiosks, to transfer his patent in exchange for royalties on the sales of these kiosks. Lavery's patent expired in May 2021, and Pursuant Health ceased paying royalties. Lavery sued Pursuant Health, seeking a declaration that the royalty payments should continue indefinitely, damages for breach of the Contribution Agreement, and damages for unjust enrichment.The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan granted summary judgment in favor of Pursuant Health, ruling that the expiration of Lavery's patent rendered the royalty agreement unenforceable. Lavery appealed the decision, challenging the grant of summary judgment on his breach of contract claim.The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reviewed the case. The court held that the royalty provision in the Contribution Agreement was unenforceable after the expiration of Lavery's patent. The court found that the agreement did not specify any non-patent contributions that would justify continuing the royalty payments beyond the patent's expiration. The court also noted that the royalty was based on the sales of kiosks that incorporated Lavery's patent, and thus, the royalty provision improperly extended beyond the patent's 20-year term. Consequently, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision to grant summary judgment in favor of Pursuant Health. View "Lavery v. Pursuant Health, Inc." on Justia Law

In 2022, two top officers of the Libertarian Party of Michigan resigned, leading to a power struggle within the party. Andrew Chadderdon became the acting Chair, but his leadership was contested by the defendants, who then voted to remove him and elected themselves to committee positions. The Libertarian Party Judicial Committee later voided these elections, reinstating Chadderdon. The defendants, however, continued to use the Libertarian National Committee’s (LNC) trademark, claiming to be the rightful leaders of the Michigan affiliate.The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan granted the LNC’s request for a preliminary injunction, barring the defendants from using the LNC’s trademark. The defendants appealed, arguing that the district court’s application of the Lanham Act to their noncommercial speech violated the First Amendment and that their use of the trademark was authorized and not likely to cause confusion.The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reviewed the case. The court found that the Lanham Act could apply to the defendants’ use of the LNC’s trademark because they used it as a source identifier for their political services, which falls within the scope of the Act. The court also determined that the defendants’ use of the trademark created a likelihood of confusion among potential voters, party members, and donors. However, the court found that the defendants’ use of the trademark for online solicitation, when accompanied by clear disclaimers, did not create a likelihood of confusion.The Sixth Circuit affirmed the preliminary injunction in part, except for the aspect concerning the defendants’ online solicitation with disclaimers, which it vacated. View "Libertarian National Committee, Inc. v. Saliba" on Justia Law

This case pertains to an alleged copyright infringement involving software code used in an industrial control system. The plaintiffs, RJ Control Consultants, Inc. and its sole shareholder, Paul Rogers, appealed the district court’s exclusion of their proposed expert and the granting of summary judgment to the defendants, Multiject, LLC; its sole owner, Jack Elder; and RSW Technologies, LLC. The U.S Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the plaintiffs’ proposed expert or in granting summary judgment to the defendants. The plaintiffs had failed to properly disclose their expert as required and did not produce an expert report. Consequently, they could not offer expert evidence to rebut the defendants' evidence. Furthermore, they could not create a genuine dispute of fact about the protectability of the software code, a crucial factor in their copyright infringement claim. Therefore, the district court's judgment was affirmed. The court also vacated its prior decision in RJ Control Consultants, Inc. v. Multiject, LLC, 981 F.3d 446 (2020), due to lack of appellate jurisdiction at the time of that decision. View "R.J. Control Consultants, Inc. v. Multiject, LLC" on Justia Law

In a case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Premier Dealer Services, a developer and administrator of automobile dealers’ aftermarket products, sued Allegiance Administrators for infringing its copyright. The issue stemmed from Premier's creation of a Lifetime Powertrain Loyalty Program, which included a loyalty certificate that set out the program's terms and conditions. Premier had registered this certificate for copyright protection. When Allegiance started working with a former Premier client, it used Premier’s Lifetime Powertrain Loyalty Program certificates in its own plan, with minor modifications in the contact information.In the lawsuit, the district court ruled that Allegiance had infringed Premier’s copyright, ordered Allegiance to give up any profits from using the certificates, and awarded Premier attorney’s fees. On appeal, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the decision of the lower court.The appellate court held that Premier's certificate was "original" and thus protected by copyright. The court clarified that originality in copyright law has a low threshold, requiring only that the author independently created a work with some minimal degree of creativity. The court rejected Allegiance's argument that the certificates were scenes a faire—stock or standard phrases that necessarily follow from a common theme or setting, which are not protectable by copyright. The court found that Allegiance had not provided sufficient evidence that industry standards or other external constraints dictated the content of the certificates.Regarding the disgorgement of profits, the court agreed with the lower court's calculations. It noted that Premier had successfully shown a reasonable relationship between Allegiance’s infringement and its gross revenues. The burden then shifted to Allegiance to demonstrate which part of its gross revenues did not result from the infringement, but Allegiance failed to fulfill this burden.Finally, the court upheld the award of attorney’s fees to Premier, finding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion in characterizing Allegiance's arguments as unreasonable and contrary to settled law. View "Premier Dealer Services, Inc. v. Allegiance Administrators, LLC" on Justia Law

In a dispute between Ultra Bond, Inc., and its owner, Richard Campfield (collectively "Ultra Bond"), and Safelite Group, Inc. and its affiliates (collectively "Safelite"), both parties operate in the vehicle glass repair and replacement industry. Ultra Bond alleges that Safelite violated the Lanham Act by falsely advertising that windshield cracks longer than six inches could not be safely repaired and instead required replacement of the entire windshield. Safelite counterclaims that Ultra Bond stole trade secrets from Safelite in violation of state and federal law.The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the district court was incorrect to grant summary judgment to Safelite on Ultra Bond’s Lanham Act claim. The court held that there was sufficient evidence to suggest that Safelite's allegedly false statements may have caused economic injury to Ultra Bond, and this issue should go to a jury.The court also affirmed the district court's decision that Safelite's claims for conversion, civil conspiracy, and tortious interference with contract were preempted by the Ohio Uniform Trade Secrets Act (OUTSA). However, the court reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment to Ultra Bond on Safelite’s claim under OUTSA, ruling that Safelite's claim was not time-barred and should be evaluated further in the lower court.Finally, the court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to Ultra Bond on Safelite's unfair competition claim, finding that Safelite hadn't provided enough evidence to support its claim that Ultra Bond's statements were false or that they had led to a diversion of customers from Safelite to Ultra Bond. The case was remanded for further proceedings. View "Campfield v. Safelite Group, Inc." on Justia Law

In 1999, Latham, McLean, and Vernooy formed Bliss to sell children’s clothing under the name “bella bliss.” In 2003, Shannon left Bliss and started Latham to sell her own children’s clothing under the name “little english.” Bliss’s logo is a lowercase “b” drawn out as if stitched in thread. Bliss has registered trademarks for this logo. Bliss has several designs that it claims as signature looks of the bella bliss brand that have “become famous and widely known and recognized as symbols of unique and high-quality garments.” There has been previous litigation between the parties.In 2020, Bliss filed federal claims for copyright, trademark, and trade dress infringement; false designation of origin and misappropriation of source; and unfair competition. The district court dismissed Bliss’s claims and granted Latham attorney’s fees for defending the copyright claim but found that Bliss filed its action in good faith and that the trademark and trade dress claims were not so “exceptionally meritless” that Latham merited a rare attorney’s fees award under 15 U.S.C. 1117. The Sixth Circuit affirmed in part. Bliss stated claims for federal and state trademark infringement but has not stated a claim for trade dress infringement. The district court did not err in denying attorney’s fees to Latham for defending the trademark and trade dress infringement claims. View "Bliss Collection, LLC v. Latham Companies, LLC" on Justia Law

La Bamba Licensing operates Mexican restaurants in the Midwest under the name “La Bamba.” In 1998, La Bamba registered “LA BAMBA” as a trademark for restaurant services and for various food items. Nearly two decades later, La Bamba Authentic Mexican Cuisine opened a Mexican restaurant under the name “La Bamba Authentic Mexican Cuisine” with one location in Lebanon, Kentucky—about 65 miles from one of La Bamba’s restaurants in Louisville. In May 2016, La Bamba sent Cuisine a cease-and-desist letter, citing La Bamba’s federal trademark registrations. La Bamba subsequently sued, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition under the Lanham Act and Kentucky common law. In October 2017, Cuisine changed the name of its restaurant to “La Villa Rica Authentic Mexican Cuisine, Inc.”The district court granted La Bamba summary judgment and awarded La Bamba $50,741.76 ($22,907.26 in profits; $27,309.50 for attorneys’ fees; and $525.00 for court costs. The Sixth Circuit affirmed, Under the Lanham Act, a plaintiff who succeeds on an infringement claim “shall be entitled” subject to equitable principles, to recover a defendant’s profits, any damages sustained by the plaintiff, and the costs of the action, 15 U.S.C. 1117(a). The district court did not abuse its discretion in considering the relevant factors and making the awards. View "La Bamba Licensing, LLC v. La Bamba Authentic Mex. Cuisine, Inc." on Justia Law

Columbus-based financial advisors developed a financial product seemingly unique to the annuities market: the Transitions Beneficiary Income Rider, which would guarantee that, following a life insurance policyholder’s death, an insurance company would pay death-benefit proceeds to beneficiaries throughout their lifetimes. They founded Novus to launch the product. Novus contracted with Genesis and Annexus, financial product developers, to handle the eventual pitch to Novus’s target customer, Nationwide. Each agreement contained a confidentiality provision. Nationwide would not sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) and cautioned Novus not to disclose any confidential information about the Rider. An Annexus executive shared the Rider concept by email with Nationwide VP Morrone. Nationwide chose not to pursue the concept. After Novus’s unsuccessful pitch, Branch, Morrone’s supervisor, left Nationwide to join its competitor, Prudential. Branch convinced Ferris, also in Branch’s chain-of-command, and who had allegedly attended the in-person pitch, to leave Nationwide for Prudential. Prudential subsequently launched Legacy “eerily similar to” Rider.In Novus’s suit, alleging that Prudential engaged in trade secrets misappropriation, in violation of Ohio’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act, the district court granted summary judgment to Prudential. The Sixth Circuit affirmed. There is no reference to a confidential relationship through which Prudential acquired information about the Rider concept. View "Novus Group, LLC v. Prudential Financial, Inc." on Justia Law