anyaberkut
3 May 2018Trademarks

Delta settles dispute with ‘fraudulent’ ticket site

Delta Air Lines’ lawsuit against an alleged “fraudulent” ticket platform has been settled, prompting the discontinuance of the case.

District Judge Alison Nathan ordered (pdf) the discontinuation without costs to any party at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, May 1.

Nathan said the discontinuation is also without prejudice to the restoration of the action, if an application to restore the case is made within 30 days of the order.

American company Delta filed the complaint (pdf) against ticket-booking platform Faremachine and unidentified agents of the company in September last year.

The lawsuit accused Faremachine of intentional trademark infringement, counterfeiting, and unfair competition. It added that “other wrongful acts”, including unjust enrichment and tarnishment of a mark, had been committed.

Delta said Faremachine was doing business as deltaairlinesreservations.org in an “intentionally-fraudulent scheme” designed to harm Delta’s business and “defraud innocent retail customers”. The domain name was registered in September 2016, according to Delta.

Faremachine’s website illegally used Delta’s well-known brand and registered trademarks, the complaint said, in efforts to “confuse” consumers.

Delta said it is one of the world’s largest commercial airlines and generates more than $36 billion in annual revenue. The ‘Delta’ marks therefore prompt “favourable recognition” for high-quality products and services.

Word mark ‘Delta Air Lines’ was registered in the US in 1950 (trademark number 0,523,611). The airline company said billions of dollars have been invested in worldwide advertising and marketing around its registered marks such as this one.

Delta explained that consumers approaching the website believe they are contacting Delta to modify a booking or purchase new tickets.

The claim said a toll-free number, displayed online, directs consumers to Faremachine’s call centre where employees identify themselves to callers as “Delta”, “Delta Air Lines”, or “Delta Reservations”.

Faremachine’s use of the Delta marks has created an “undesirable, unwholesome, and unsavoury” association between the platform and Delta, which the complaint said caused Delta to suffer reputational as well as pecuniary losses.

The airline company had requested a preliminary and permanent injunction against Faremachine and its affiliates, as well as special and general damages including all profits received as a result of the infringing activities and all losses suffered by Delta. Delta also asked for reasonable attorneys’ fees.

Details of the settlement have not been made public, but both parties have been approached for comment. Nathan said a stipulation of dismissal can be submitted within 30 days of the court’s order and confirmed that the court cannot enforce a settlement agreement unless its terms are on the public record.

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.

Today's top stories

AG says TM successor in title can file oppositions

Nicki Minaj hit with copyright infringement claim

Fed Circuit dismisses summary judgment in gambling case

Barnes & Thornburg welcomes Brinks Gilson & Lione shareholder

HGF promotes two to partner

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Copyright
17 December 2015   US airline Delta has sued an unnamed travel company for allegedly using its logo and name without authorisation to sell holiday packages.
Trademarks
9 November 2017   Delta Airlines has sued a Miami-based man who allegedly runs a website which used Delta’s registered trademarks to fool customers into booking tickets over the phone.