relopworkshop.blogg.se

So the question on appeal was limited to O.R.C. Therefore, Wooster Floral had no state trademark remedy to assert. 1329.65, is clear that civil actions for unauthorized use or reproduction of a mark are limited to holders of registered marks only. 1329 collapsed immediately because it never owned a state registered trademark. In its decision, the Court underscored two important features of trade name and trademark law. 1329 – “Labels and Marks” (Ohio’ s state trademark statute) and the Ohio Deceptive Trade Practices Act, O.R.C. Wooster Floral & Gifts (Heimberger) sued under O.R.C. Second, Heimberger testified that at the time she purchased the assets of Wooster Floral, she was aware that Green Thumb owned the domain name. After the lapse, Green Thumb Floral & Garden Center, Inc (“Green Thumb”) acquired the domain name “” and used it to redirect customers to Green Thumb. The first is that while Gantz had previously owned the domain name she did not own it at the time of the asset sale, having let the registration lapse. Now the case becomes more complex, and important business red flags begin to appear. Gantz formally dissolved Wooster Floral, LLC in December, 2015.

Heimberger operated Wooster Floral & Gifts, LLC out of the same location that Wooster Floral, LLC has used prior to the sale, and the store operated continuously during the transition. The store’s manager Kimberly Heimberger purchased certain assets of the store in January, 2015, that while not purchasing “the business,” did include purchase of the name “Wooster Floral.” Heimberger filed and recorded articles of organization for Wooster Floral & Gifts, LLC, with the Ohio Secretary of State, as well as an assignment of the trade name “Wooster Floral, LLC” which Gantz had previously used. In late 2014, she decided to close the business. Kimberly Gantz owned and operated Wooster Floral LLC beginning in the early 2000s. Green Thumb Floral & Garden Ctr., Inc., 2019 Ohio 63. A recent Ohio Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case, based on some convoluted facts and possibly misguided in its outcome, nonetheless illustrates some very important business realities on the intersection of trade names and trademarks in Ohio.