Twin Star Settles Three Copyright Suits

Twin Star International, maker of Classic Flame electric fireplaces, announced that it has settled three copyright infringement actions against The Philip Reinisch Co., SteinWorld LLC, and Hargrove Manufacturing Corp. Each company agreed to stop producing the designs in question, and Twin-Star received royalties from the accused models. SteinWorld LLC agreed to remove themselves completely from the electric fireplace business for at least 18 months.

Home Furnishings Business reports the following statement from Twin Star's President:

“Our in-house design team and the award winning products they develop are a testament to their creativity and Twin-Star’s commitment to bring innovative designs to market," said Mark Asofsky, president of Twin-Star. "We plan to stand by and protect the over 1,000 designs currently under our belt and will continue to fight plagiarism.”Twin-Star said it is serious about putting in the time and effort that it takes to protect its intellectual property. In addition to copyright, the company patent protects its fireplace designs and rigorously enforces its intellectual property rights against companies that attempt to misappropriate Twin-Star’s property.

The full story from Home Furnishings Business may be found by clicking here.

Marge Carson Settles Suit Against Schnadig

Marge Carson, Inc. announced on Monday, March 16, 2009 that is has settled a design patent infringement action it brought against Schnadig Corporation for an undisclosed amount. The lawsuit alleged infringement of U.S. Patent No. D549,997. A figure from the '997 Patent is produced below:

Home Furnishings Business reports the following statement from the President of Marge Carson:

"Marge Carson's position as a design leader within our industry is one we take very serious. A tremendous amount of effort is put forth by our design team to create elegant and original designs," said Will Sharp, president of Marge Carson. "As such, we will continue to aggressively protect our intellectual properties and the design
integrity of our collections to insure success for both Marge Carson and our dealer base."Many of Marge Carson's designs and brands are protected by the laws governing design patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade dress.

The full HFB story can be found by clicking here.

Who Knew Going Out Of Business Was Copyright Protected?

Lynch Sales Company and Lynch Brothers Licensing Corporation filed an action on February 25, 2009 in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Orlando) against Hudson's Furniture Showroom, Inc., Hudson's Broyhill Furniture Gallery, Inc. and C. Fred Hudson, III for copyright infringement, false designation of origin, common law trademark and trade dress claims, violation of Michigan Consumer Protection Act, and several other claims. The complaint alleges that the defendants used sales and advertising (such as the one below) without plaintiff's authorization. Plaintiff also apparently holds copyrights to several other "Going out of business!" advertisements as well. Just what you need when you are trying to wind things down - a copyright infringement action.