InStyler® Hair Brush Products Subject of Copyright and Trademark Infringement Lawsuits

Los Angeles, CA – Tre Milano is the owner of the InStyler® trademark and several copyrights used in the sale and advertising of its hair styling product, including a copyright registration for its www.getinstyler.com website. You may have seen one of its infomercials for its “rotating iron” hair brush, a hair product that combines a hair brush and rotating hot iron to curl, straighten, and style hair. Since its first sale in June of 2008, Plaintiff contends that it has spent $30,000,000.00 to air its television infomercials and $5,000,000.00 on print and internet advertising. As a result, Plaintiff asserts that its trademark has become famous.

Plaintiff asserts that its investigator purchased an “InStyler” rotating hot iron from Defendants’ eBay listing for $65.99, which was charged to the investigator’s PayPal account. In advertising and selling the “InStyler” products, Plaintiff further contends that Defendants use images that infringe on Plaintiff’s copyrights and use trademarks that are confusingly similar to Plaintiff’s. In addition to the trademark and copyright infringement causes of action, Plaintiff also asserts Lanham Act and § 17200 unfair completion, trademark dilution, accounting, and unjust infringement causes of action. The case is Tre Milano, Inc. v. Daryl Ewald et al., CV10-2849 SVW (C.D. Cal. 2010).