MIAMI — A federal judge has ordered more than two dozen defendants in a trademark infringement complaint filed by a popular U.S. shoe and apparel company to stop selling their knockoffs and has moved to claw back at least part of their alleged ill-gotten gains.
U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom, in Florida's Southern District Miami Division, granted a motion by Mycoskie LLC for a preliminary injunction against individuals, partnerships and unincorporated associations for alleged violations of the Lanham Act.
"In light of the inherently deceptive nature of the counterfeiting business, and the likelihood that defendants have violated federal trademark laws, plaintiff has good reason to believe defendants will hide or transfer their ill-gotten assets beyond the jurisdiction of this court unless those assets are restrained," Bloom wrote in her 11-page order issued March 14.
U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom
| Law.Miami.Edu
The 27 apparently offshore defendants in the case, identified largely by their seller IDs and associated PayPal email accounts, allegedly operated Internet-based e-commerce stores to sell knockoffs of TOMS products, according to Bloom's order. Those seller IDs include "2018prettycat," "happyflower2018," "agepochfishingworld." "bee_stars," "tongyaostore," "goodswellseller2015," "lovelydress0808," "wulishaoqingstore" and "sundaytime001."
"Although each defendant may not copy and infringe each TOMS mark for each category of goods protected, plaintiff has submitted sufficient evidence showing each defendant has infringed, at least, one or more of the TOMS marks," Bloom's order said.
Mycoskie owns trademark on TOMS and the Los Angeles footwear and apparel company of the same name, of which Blake Mycoskie is founder and "chief shoe giver," according to information from the company's website. Mycoskie also owns trademark to the "ONE FOR ONE" line of hats, sweatshirts, hooded sweatshirts, t-shirts and shoes, based on the one-for-one business model that purports to provide for a person in need for every product purchased.
Mycoskie also alleges defendants violated its ONE FOR ONE trademark.
Mycoskie found out about the alleged trademark infringements after hiring a private investigator to look into the "promotion and sale of counterfeit and infringing TOMS branded products by defendants" before filing its complaint in February, Bloom's order said.
Mycoskie filed a similar lawsuit in Florida's Southern District against other named sellers in March, three days before Bloom issued her order in this case.
Shortly after Mycoskie filed its February complaint, Bloom entered a sealed temporary restraining order that enjoined defendants from selling their alleged TOMS knockoffs. That restraining order also directed PayPal "to identify and restrain funds in payment accounts associated with Defendants and to divert those funds to a holding account," Bloom's order said.
Mycoskie counsel served defendants with copies of the complaint, restraining order and other documents, according to Bloom's order.
Bloom held a telephone conference with plaintiffs earlier on the day she granted the preliminary injunction. Prior to the hearing, the plaintiff notified Bloom about email inquiries "from certain defendants," including two attorneys based in China, according to Bloom's order.
"The plaintiff provided notice of the hearing and defendants' rights to file answers in response to plaintiff's claims," Bloom's order said. "Nevertheless, none of the defendants formally responded to the motion, nor have they made any appearance or filing in this case, other than the above-mentioned emails, either individually or through counsel."