Blumenthal Distributing, Inc. d/b/a Office Star et al v. Herman Miller, Inc., No. 5:2014cv01926 - Document 404 (C.D. Cal. 2017)
Court Description: FINAL JUDGMENT AND PERMANENT INJUNCTION by Judge John A. Kronstadt. Judgment is entered against Herman Miller and in favor of Office Star as to the unprotectability of the asserted registered and unregistered Aeron chair trade dresses, except that th e Court is without subject matter to enter judgment as to the Posture Fit versio of the Aeron chair trade dress. Judgment is entered against Herman Miller and in favor of the Office Star as to the validity of U.S. Trademark Registered No. 2,754,826. The Jury's Verdict as to lack of secondary meaning is vacated, and judgment is entered in Herman Miller's favor as to secondary meaning. (MD JS-6, Case Terminated). (SEE JUDGMENT FOR FURTHER SPECIFICS) (bp)
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Blumenthal Distributing, Inc. d/b/a Office Star et al v. Herman Miller, Inc. Doc. 404 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 WESTERN DIVISION 11 12 13 14 15 BLUMENTHAL DISTRIBUTING, INC. D/B/A OFFICE STAR, v. HERMAN MILLER, INC., 16 17 20 21 22 23 24 FINAL JUDGMENT AND PERMANENT INJUNCTION JS-6 Defendant. HERMAN MILLER, INC, 18 19 Plaintiff, Case No: 5:14-cv-01926-JAK-SPx v. Counterclaim-Plaintiff, BLUMENTHAL DISTRIBUTING, INC. D/B/A OFFICE STAR; FRIS OFFICE OUTFITTERS, INC.; iFURN.com, INC. D/B/A OFFICESTARFURNITURE-DIRECT.COM; GAMESIS, INC. D/B/A OFFICESTARSTORE.COM and D/B/A TSCSHOPS.COM, Counterclaim-Defendants. 25 26 27 28 Error! Unknown document property name. Dockets.Justia.com 1 On October 7, 2016, the Jury returned a Special Verdict (Dkt. 344, “Verdict”) 2 concerning Herman Miller, Inc.’s (“Herman Miller”) claims against Blumenthal Distributing, 3 Inc. (“Office Star”) of trade dress infringement and dilution of Herman Miller’s Eames 4 Aluminum Group (“Eames”) chair design, and Herman Miller’s Aeron chair design. 5 As to the Eames chair, the Jury found that Office Star had willfully infringed Herman 6 Miller’s asserted registered and unregistered trade dress rights in both the Thin Pad and Soft 7 Pad versions of the chair. The Jury awarded $3.3 million in infringement damages. The Jury 8 also found that the Eames trade dress was famous and suffered dilution, and awarded an 9 additional $5.1 million in dilution damages. On August 1, 2017, following post-trial motion 10 practice, the Court issued an Order (Dkt. 396, “August 1 Order”) substantially upholding the 11 Jury’s Verdict, but ordering that Herman Miller either accept a remittitur of the dilution 12 damages to $3 million, or request a new trial on dilution damages. On August 8, 2017, 13 Herman Miller accepted a remittitur of the dilution damages to $3 million. The Court’s 14 August 1 Order also approved a permanent injunction against further infringement by Office 15 Star in the United States and Canada, and ordered an accounting of Office Star’s infringing 16 profits earned since September 9, 2016 (the last date up until which profits had previously 17 been reported). 18 The Jury’s Verdict separately found that Herman Miller’s asserted registered and 19 unregistered trade dress rights in the Aeron chair were not protectable on grounds of lack of 20 functionality as to both the asserted registered and unregistered trade dress rights, and lack of 21 secondary meaning as to the asserted unregistered trade dress rights. In the August 1 Order, 22 the Court upheld the Jury’s finding of functionality as to both the asserted registered and 23 unregistered trade dresses, but overturned the Verdict as to secondary meaning of the asserted 24 unregistered trade dress, and found that the Court was without subject matter jurisdiction to 25 pronounce any judgment as to the Posture Fit version of the Aeron chair design. 26 27 WHEREFORE, the Court now enters FINAL JUDGMENT and PERMANENT INJUNCTION as follows: 28 1 JUDGMENT AS TO AERON 1 2 (1) Judgment is entered against Herman Miller and in favor of Office Star as to the 3 unprotectability of the asserted registered and unregistered Aeron chair trade dresses, except 4 that the Court is without subject matter to enter judgment as to the Posture Fit version of the 5 Aeron chair trade dress. 6 7 8 9 (2) Judgment is entered against Herman Miller and in favor of Office Star as to the validity of U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,754,826. (3) The Jury’s Verdict as to lack of secondary meaning is vacated, and judgment is entered in Herman Miller’s favor as to secondary meaning. 10 11 DAMAGES WITH RESPECT TO EAMES 12 (1) Judgment is entered against Office Star and in favor of Herman Miller as to validity 13 and infringement of U.S. Trademark Reg. No. 3,105,591 under 15 U.S.C. § 1114, and as to 14 validity and infringement of the asserted unregistered Eames trade dresses under 15 U.S.C. § 15 1125(a), in the amount of $3,378,966, which reflects $3.3 million awarded by the Jury for the 16 time period up until September 9, 2016, as well as $78,966 in additional infringing profits 17 earned by Office Star since that time. The Court retains jurisdiction to amend this Judgment 18 as necessary to account for any additional damages. 19 20 21 22 (2) Judgment is entered against Office Star and in favor of Herman Miller for trade dress dilution under 15 U.S.C. §1125(c) in the amount of $3 million. (3) Office Star shall be liable to Herman Miller for post-judgment interest in the amount set by statute pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1961. 23 24 PERMANENT INJUNCTION WITH RESPECT TO EAMES 25 (1) Office Star is permanently enjoined in the United States and Canada from selling, 26 marketing, advertising, promoting, shipping, transferring, distributing – or otherwise inducing 27 or contributing to the foregoing activities – any of the following model numbers of chairs 28 identified in the Jury Verdict, or any colorable imitations thereof: 2 1 73631, 73633, 73632, 73638, 73639, 74613LT, 74123LT, 74612LT, 2 74618LT, 3 73029LT, 74653, 74523, 74652, 74658, 73529, 73603, 73023, 74023, 4 74123, 5 78603LT, 78023LT, EC39890C-EC3, EC39891C-EC3, EC39895C-EC3 73129LT, 74603LT, 74603, 74613, 74023LT, 74602LT, 74608LT, 7360M, 7361M, 7360MLT, 7361MLT, 6 (2) Office Star is permanently enjoined in the United States and Canada from selling, 7 marketing, advertising, promoting, shipping, transferring, distributing – or otherwise inducing 8 or contributing to the foregoing activities – any chair that is a copy or colorable imitation of 9 any Herman Miller Eames Aluminum Group chair, images of which are appended hereto from 10 Trial Exhibit 1314, or other chair products so similar to the Eames chair designs as to be likely 11 to cause confusion, to cause mistake or to deceive or to dilute the distinctive quality of the 12 Eames chair designs. 13 14 (3) This Injunction shall not apply to any conduct that is expressly authorized by Herman Miller. 15 (4) The Court shall retain jurisdiction to administer the Injunction and ensure 16 compliance therewith, whether by contempt proceedings or as otherwise necessary, as well as 17 to enforce its Order of September 2, 2016 (Dkt. 274), and for any other post-judgment 18 motions. 19 20 21 DATED: September 6, 2017 _____________________________ JOHN A. KRONSTADT UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3
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