Munro v. Lucy Activewear, Inc., No. 16-4483 (8th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseBruce Munro and his studio appealed the district court's dismissal of his complaint against Lucy and the denial of his motion to amend his complaint. Munro's claims stemmed from Lucy's "Light Forest" exhibition and advertising campaign that infringed on Munro's works. The Eighth Circuit affirm the district court's decision to dismiss Munro's trade dress, fraud, and tortious interference claims as well as its denial of Munro's motion to amend these claims because the proposed amendments were futile. The court held, however, that Munro sufficiently pleaded a trademark claim so as to survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Accordingly, the court reversed in part, affirmed in part, and remanded for further proceedings.
Court Description: Shepherd, Author, with Melloy and Grasz, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Copyrights and Trademarks. The district court did not err in denying plaintiff's motion to amend his complaint as his proposed amendment of his count for tortious interference with contract was preempted by the Copyright Act and his proposed amended trade dress and fraud claims were futile; however, his proposed amended trademark claim did state a trademark claim regarding the names of his installed art works, and the district court erred in denying his motion to amend this claim; remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
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