Williamsport According to a direct-to-consumer company in Seattle, Penn State’s request for a permanent injunction in a trademark infringement action would essentially spell the end for its whole enterprise.
In a petition on Wednesday in the U.S. Middle District Court, Vintage Brand argues that the university’s requested injunction does not accurately reflect the jury’s decision in the infringement case.
On November 19, a jury determined that Vintage Brand had intentionally violated Penn State’s trademarks and granted the institution a $28,000 compensation.
The university argues that the injunction it is requesting is necessary to stop Vintage Brand from violating its trademarks and is specifically designed to be consistent with the jury’s conclusions.
Chad Hartvigson, the founder and CEO of Vintage Brand, and Sportswear Inc. are also defendants. The latter distributes goods straight to customers and uses old Penn State photos in a facility in Louisville, Kentucky.
They claim the institution would suffer irreversible harm if an injunction was not granted, accusing it of gamesmanship and fabricating a large portion of the trial record.
They point out that not all of the images on the Vintage Brand website were accused of infringement, as Penn State noted during the trial.
After the verdict, the restraint it displayed during the trial disappeared, and they are now requesting an injunction that would prohibit all images of Penn State from appearing on the Vintage Brand website.
Vintage Brand says that if Judge Matthew W. Brann decides to issue an injunction, it should only apply to the designs that jurors determined violated Penn State’s trademark.
These consist of the words Penn State and The Pennsylvania State University, the university seal, and the Pozniak lion logo.
It claims that the extent of any injunction will affect both other institutions’ cases and Vintage Brand’s whole business strategy.
Vintage Brand claims that whatever boundary Brann chooses to establish must be applied to all of its website’s school-related images.
Penn State requests that the injunction include a clause requiring Vintage Brand to remove or provide to it materials that contain university trademarks that were utilized in advertising or merchandise preparation.
Penn State cites the following additional justifications for the need for an injunction:
Stories by
John Beauge
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