Amended Beatles Trademark Suit Names 63 Online-Store Defendants With Various Aliases

Sixty-three defendants, each an individual, business entity of “unknown makeup” or an unincorporated association, are engaged online in promoting and selling counterfeit Beatles goods or products with “confusingly similar imitations” of the legitimate articles, alleged Beatle rights holder Apple Corps and Subafilms, owner of the Yellow Submarine trademarks, in their amended complaint Wednesday (docket 0:23-cv-60769) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in Fort Lauderdale.

The defendants operate through various e-commerce stores bearing some unusual names, said the complaint, including Air-Conditioned-Room Store, TZG Cufflinks Leading Store and haddockstore. The defendants reside or operate in foreign jurisdictions and “redistribute products from the same or similar sources in those locations,” it said. Apple Corps and Subafilms moved last week to unseal all documents in the case, including the defendants’ identities, after months of keeping the information sealed so as not to tip off the wrongdoers to their investigations (see 2307170024).

The defendants have the capacity to be sued under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(b), said the complaint. The defendants “target their business activities toward consumers” throughout the U.S., through the “simultaneous operation” of internet-based e-commerce stores, using aliases, it said. The defendants “are the past and present controlling force behind the sale of products using counterfeits and infringements” of Beatles trademarks, it said.

The wrongdoers “may have engaged in fraudulent conduct” in registering their e-commerce store names “by providing false and/or misleading information during the registration or maintenance process,” said the complaint. Many defendants registered or maintained some of their e-commerce store names “for the sole purpose of engaging in unlawful infringing and counterfeiting activities,” it said.

The defendants “will likely continue to register or acquire new seller identification names and other aliases,” plus related payment accounts, to continue their unlawful conduct “unless preliminarily and permanently enjoined,” said the complaint. The defendants are using the Beatles’ “famous names and trademarks” to drive internet consumer traffic, decreasing “the size and value” of the plaintiffs’ legitimate Beatles marketplace at the plaintiffs’ expense, it said.

The worldwide popularity of the Beatles musical compositions, musical recordings and the “enormous sales” of goods bearing or using the Beatles’ name, resulted in “widespread recognition” of the Beatles “brand,” said the complaint. As a result of Apple Corps’ use, promotion and advertisement of the Beatles brand, “members of the consuming public readily identify merchandise bearing or sold” using the Beatles marks “as being quality merchandise sponsored and approved by Apple Corps,” it said.

Apple Corps “carefully monitored and policed the use” of the Beatles marks in global commerce, and has never assigned or licensed those marks to any of the defendants in the case, said the complaint. The Yellow Submarine mark, owned by Subafilms, “is used in connection with the manufacture and distribution of quality goods,” it said. The Yellow Submarine mark “has been extensively and continuously used in interstate commerce,” it said. The mark has been in use by Subafilms “since long before” the defendants’ use of counterfeits of that mark, it said.

The defendants are using counterfeits and infringements of the Beatles marks “to make their e-commerce stores selling unauthorized goods appear more relevant and attractive to consumers” searching for legitimate Beatles goods online, said the complaint. The defendants are causing “individual, concurrent, and indivisible harm” to the plaintiffs and the consuming public, it said.

The defendants are depriving the plaintiffs and other third parties “of their right to fairly compete for space online and within search engine results,” thereby reducing the visibility of genuine Beatles goods online, said the complaint. Their unlawful conduct is causing “an overall degradation of the value of the goodwill” associated with the Beatles marks, it said. The complaint seeks a temporary restraining order, plus preliminary injunctions under the All Writs Act, to enjoin the defendants from their illegal activities.