Seattle Trademark Lawyer

On December 6, Western District of Washington Judge Ricardo Martinez found that plaintiff James Childers pleaded sufficient harm felt in the United States from alleged trademark infringement to defeat defendant Sagem Morpho, Inc.’s (“SMI”) motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Childers, d/b/a Artemis Solutions Group, filed suit against SMI and other defendants alleging that SMI’s subsidiary’s use of X-BIOCERT as a trademark in connection with biometric software is confusingly similar to plaintiff’s BIOCERT registered trademark that is also used in connection with biometric software. SMI argued in its motion that the alleged Lanham Act violations took place in France, by a French company, and not within United States commerce as required under the Lanham Act.

Judge Martinez disagreed. He wrote:

“Plaintiff insists that his claims are solely focused upon the alleged infringement in the United States and the effect the infringement has had on United States commerce. Plaintiff argues that he has presented facts to support his claims of domestic application of the Lanham Act as well. In fact, nowhere in plaintiff’s Amended Complaint, or any other of his pleadings, is there mention of facts alluding to an extraterritorial application of the Lanham Act. Thus, the Court accepts plaintiff’s characterization of his claims.”

The court separately granted co-defendant Sagem Defense Securite’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.