SANTA ANA — A California corporation has filed suit against a competitor for allegedly infringing its trademark.
GMEP Engineers filed a complaint Aug. 11 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division, against GMEP Engineering Consulting, alleging that the engineering company violated trademark infringement under the California Common Law.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that on Feb. 8, 2010, plaintiff GMEP Engineers was formed by its president and has used the "GMEP Engineers" mark in commerce long before defendant GreenMEP used any mark incorporating “GMEP” and therefore has priority of use of the mark GMEP Engineers in association with MEP engineering services. The defendant's use of the trademark has caused the plaintiff to sustain substantial damage to its business, goodwill, reputation and profits.
The plaintiff holds GMEP Engineering Consulting responsible because the defendant allegedly benefitted from using confusingly similar marks to deceive clients of an affiliation to the plaintiff, disregarded the plaintiff's valuable trademark rights and traded upon the reputation and goodwill of plaintiff for their commercial benefit.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks that defendant be enjoined and restrained, destroy advertisements and other materials, award profits, damages, attorneys' fees, costs of suit and further relief as the court deems just. It is represented by Mei Tsang and Genevieve Halpenny of Fish & Tsang LLP in Irvine.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division, case number 16-cv-01493