Unicorn art firm’s injunction bid ‘insensitive’ during pandemic: judge
A US federal judge has rebuked an art licensing agency for prioritising its trademark lawsuit over knock-off unicorn products during the global coronavirus emergency.
Judge Steven Seeger, of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, last Friday told Art Ask Agency that now was not an appropriate time to request injunctive relief in their trademark suit over allegedly counterfeit drawings of unicorns.
Seeger said the Art Ask Agency had proposed a “bloated” injunction that would rope in numerous financial institutions and tech companies, “all of whom undoubtedly have more pressing matters on their plates right now”.
“Plaintiff's proposed order would require immediate action, in a matter of days, from firms that have nothing to do with this case. In the meantime, the country is in the midst of a crisis from the coronavirus, and it is not a good time to put significant demands on innocent third parties,” the judge wrote.
“To put it bluntly, plaintiff's proposed order seems insensitive to others in the current environment,” he added.
In any case, the art company’s injunction request was inadequate, the judge said, as it failed to provide even an estimate of how its sales would be impacted if the court didn’t issue an immediate injunction.
Seeger continued: “Simply put, trademark infringement is an important consideration, but so is the strain that the rest of [the] country is facing, too. It is important to keep in perspective the costs and benefits of forcing everyone to drop what they're doing to stop the sale of knock−off unicorn products, in the midst of a pandemic.”
Art Ask filed the trademark and copyright suit earlier this month against unknown individuals who are allegedly selling knock off unicorn drawings that infringe the company’s licensing rights.
The company says it is the exclusive licensee of British fantasy artist Anne Stokes, who creates “striking designs and life-like portrayals of fantasy subjects”, including unicorns.
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