LOS ANGELES — A club owner has filed suit against a group of individuals and a hotel group for alleged trademark infringement of his club name, the Limelight.
Peter Gatien filed a complaint on Sept. 1 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division, against RMNJ Licensing LLC, Tao Group LLC, Dream Hotel Group LLC, Richard Wolf, Marc Packer, Noah Tepperberg and Jason Strauss, alleging that they violated his rights under the Lanham Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that on Dec. 1, 2015, the Limelight trademark owned by him was recently removed from the registry, although the plaintiff has always intended to use the marks. He supposedly was engaged in discussions about the reincarnation of the Limelight in New York City when he discovered that the defendants intended to illegally use similar marks for their new venture at the Dream Hollywood hotel, owned by one of the defendants. The suit claims that said acts are likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception and injury to the plaintiff's business reputation and goodwill.
The plaintiff holds RMNJ Licensing LLC, Tao Group LLC, Dream Hotel Group LLC, Richard Wolf, Marc Packer, Noah Tepperberg and Jason Strauss responsible because the defendants allegedly caused confusion as to their affiliation and capitalized upon plaintiff's popularity.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment against the defendants, damages, the transfer of domain names, cancellation of the defendants' trademark and other relief as the court deems just. He is represented by Oleg Elkhunovich of Susman Godfrey LLP in Los Angeles and William Christopher Carmody of Susman Godfrey LLP in New York.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division, case number 16-cv-06547