Split Decision in T-Shirt Lawsuit

Wednesday 16th of July 2008 12:54:05 PM

Split Decision in T-Shirt Lawsuit

Both sides in The University of Kansas trademark infringement lawsuit are claiming victory from a split decision by a US federal court jury Monday. Joe-College.com was hit with $127,000 (US) in penalties for selling T-Shirts that infringe on KU trademarks. Jim Tilly, the attorney representing the retailer considers this a victory of sorts.

University officials had identified 206 T-shirt designs that were created and sold by Joe College that they alleged violated their trademarks or insulted the university's image. However, jurors found only 40 to 50 of the T-shirts to be in violation.

The jury unanimously agreed that the three defendants, Victory Sportswear LLC, Larry Sinks as owner of the business and Clark Orth, owner of the screen printing offshoot of the business, were guilty of unfair competition and "dilution" of the image of KU.

According to the attorney for the University, "We are pleased that the jury unanimously found in KU's favor on all six counts, including federal and state trademark infringement, unfair competition, and dilution of our trademarks. We agree with the jury that all three defendants willfully infringed on and diluted our marks."

Jurors were asked to rule on each of the 206 T-shirt designs. They were to decide whether the shirt caused legal "dilution" and whether they constituted an infringement on a KU trademark.

Dilution can mean confusion in the minds of the public as to whether a T-shirt is officially licensed by the university and whether the design or message causes people to think less of the university.

According to the jury's written findings, they identified each T-shirt and whether the jurors found it infringed or diluted. Most were found to have neither infringed nor diluted, whilst some were found guilty of one or the other, and a few were guilty of both.