We will be discussing a jury trial involving copyright and trademark issues in which our office represented a defendant during our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, November 21, 2011. A brief summary of the case is presented below.

EFX Performance Inc. v. Lindley et al., Case No. CV10-1261 (C.D. Cal. 2011). EFX Performance sells bracelets incorporating “holographic technology” that is asserted to improve balance and individual physical performance.  EFX Performance brought suit against their ex-CEO, Dirk Lindley and our client, Matthew Lam for copyright infringement, trademark infringement and several state law claims based upon alleged sales of EFX-branded products in Singapore. Mr. Lindley was unrepresented by counsel.  Our defense of Mr. Lam primarily focused on the fact that all of his alleged actions took place completely in Singpore.  Wholly overseas conduct is not generally actionable under U.S. law.

We successfully obtained summary judgment on three of the eight claims asserted against Mr. Lam prior to trial, including the copyright claim. This was important to our client because copyright claims may be subject to a grant of attorney’s fees to the prevailing party.  Trial began on October 25 with three trademark-related claims, a conversion claim and an equitable claim remaining as to Mr. Lam.  A jury trial was conducted for three full days before the parties came to a confidential settlement agreement.  We will discuss the strategy leading up to the trial, the motions filed by the plaintiff and Mr. Lam and the jury trial process on Monday.

All are invited to join us in our discussion during the SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, November 21, 2011 at Noon in our Westlake Village office. This activity is approved for 1 hour of MCLE credit. If you will be joining us, please RSVP to Amanda Jones by 9 am Monday morning.