Los Angeles Intellectual Property Trademark Attorney Blog
Los Angeles, CA – Trademark lawyers for Gevity HR, Inc. filed a trademark infringement and Lanham Act unfair competition (15 U.S.C. § 1125) lawsuit at the Federal District Court in Los Angeles. Plaintiff Gevity owns numerous USPTO registered trademarks for a family of Gevity trademarks in different International Classes and also has several pending trademark applications. Under its family of Gevity trademarks, Plaintiff “provides a wide range of services to thousands of small and mid-sized businesses nationwide, including human resources management consulting and related financial services, payroll processing, benefits and benefits administration, risk management and loss prevention, and workers’ compensation and other insurance coverage.” Plaintiff also uses its trademarks on its website and owns the domain name www.gevity.com.
Defendant Gevity Ventures was organized in February of 2007 and operates as a boutique hedge fund. Defendant offers investment services through the www.gevityventures.com website and offers management consulting services through the ww.gevityassociates.com website. In August of 2007, Plaintiff’s trademark lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to Defendants, which was allegedly ignored. In February of 2008, the trademark lawyers once again sent a cease and desist letter to Defendants, to which Defendants responded and refused to stop using the trademarks at issue. Because Plaintiff believes that the Defendants’ trademarks are likely to cause confusion, it filed the instant lawsuit. The complaint asserts the following causes of action: (1) Federal trademark infringement under 15 U.S.C. § 1114; (2) Federal trade name infringement and false designation of origin under section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); (3) California trademark infringement; (4) Unfair competition under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200; and, (5) Unjust enrichment. The case is titled Gevity HR, Inc. v. Gevity Ventures, LLC, CV08-03146 DSF (C.D. Cal. 2008).