Millennium Labs. v. Ameritox, Ltd., No. 13-56577 (9th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseMillennium filed suit against Ameritox, alleging claims of trade dress infringement under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. 1125(a), and unfair competition under California Business and Professions Code section 17200. Millennium and Ameritox compete in the medication monitoring industry, and sell urine-testing services to healthcare providers who treat chronic pain patients with powerful pain medications. The district court granted Ameritox summary judgment. At issue is whether a product’s visual layout is functional, defeating a claim for trade dress infringement. The court concluded that, under the Au-Tomotive Gold two-step test, the district court erred by granting summary judgment to Ameritox on Millennium’s trade dress claim. In regard to the first step, genuine issues of material fact remain regarding whether Millennium's claimed trade dress has any utilitarian advantages. Under the second step, because Millennium has presented evidence that the graphical format served in part a source identifying function, Millennium has presented enough evidence to allow a jury to assess the question of aesthetic functionality. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded.
Court Description: Lanham Act. The panel reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant on claims of trade dress infringement under the Lanham Act and unfair competition under California Business and Professions Code section 17200. The panel held that there were triable issues as to whether the plaintiff’s claimed trade dress¯the visual layout of a urine test report¯was functional, and thus disqualified for protection under the Lanham Act. The panel remanded the case for further proceedings.
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