Clean slate for Warner as trademark case dismissed

Movie studio Warner Bros. has prevailed for a second time in a trademark case surrounding The Dark Knight Rises film, in which it was accused of infringing the name of a computer software program.

Software company Fortres Grand sued following the film’s release in 2012, alleging trademark infringement after a character was offered a technological device called a “clean slate” that wipes out traces of a criminal record.

Fortres, which also make a product called a “clean slate”, claimed viewers could be confused between the version used in the film and its own, used only to erase basic changes to a computer.

Fortres first instigated legal action when it sued at the US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

Warner Bros. filed a motion to dismiss that was granted by judge Philip Simon in May last year.

Fortres appealed but, in a judgement issued yesterday (August 14), the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld Simon’s decision.

In the film, one of the Batman series, the character of Catwoman, played by Anne Hathaway, is promised the clean slate device to wipe out any traces of a criminal record.

Fortres sued Warner, arguing both trademark infringement and “reverse confusion.”

Fortres was worried that people might think its product was associated with a fictional computer program that could not possibly exist.

Seventh Circuit judge Daniel Manion said Fortres had failed to “plausibly” allege confusion, affirming that the district court “did not err” in granting Warner Bros.’ motion to dismiss.

“Anyone who arrives at Fortres Grand's website is very unlikely to imagine it is sponsored by Warner Bros. (assuming, safely, that Fortres Grand is not using Catwoman as a spokesperson for its program's efficacy),” Manion added.

Warner and Fortres did not respond immediately to requests for comment.