MIAMI — A Hialeah walk-in cooler manufacturer who is suing a Port Charlotte commercial refrigerator supplier over trademark infringement for using the "Americooler" and "Coolstructures" name and who also faces trademark counterclaims was partly granted its motion to those allegations.
According to a June 5 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida filing, plaintiff Amerikooler, LLC, formerly known as a Amerikooler Inc., asked the court to dismiss/strike defendant Aleksey Viktorov's counts seeking declaratory judgment and cancellation of Amerikooler's trademark and fraud claims.
Amerikooler filed a compliant against Coolstructures and Viktorov, alleging he was using "confusingly similar marks on their competing products" with the name "Americooler." Amerikooler alleges the use of the "Americooler" name has confused consumers and resulted in "dilution" of its trademark.
Amerikooler argues that Aleksey's counterclaims are "untimely" and "lack standing" and that his claim for cancellation of Amerikooler trademarks should be dismissed because Viktorov has failed to allege any damage from the use of the trademarks.
The defendants argue they should be granted declaratory relief because there is no trademark infringement by using the "Coolstructures" name while Amerikooler argues that use of the Coolstructures name "is not the issue in this lawsuit."
U.S. District Judge Robert Scola, Jr., agreed in part with Amerikooler and dismissed the declaratory judgment count made by Coolstructures and Viktorov while denying Amerikooler's motion to dismiss the defendants' counterclaims relating to trademark infringement.
Scola stated Amerikooler did "not cite a single case for the proposition that a corporate officer sued in his personal capacity for trademark infringement cannot bring a counterclaim against the plaintiff" as his reason for denying the motion.