Plaintiff has been in business since 1999, offering IT services. Plaintiff registered two trademarks for its brand, one protecting the word mark “Impact Networking,” and one protecting the company’s logo, which includes the company’s name. According to the complaint, Defendant is also an IT services provider, operating in the same geographic location. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s similar name causes consumer confusion and suggests an affiliation between the two companies. Although Plaintiff’s principal place of business is in Illinois, they have offices in Hammond, Indiana and Indianapolis, Indiana, and do business throughout Indiana. According to the complaint, the two companies are direct competitors in the same geographic area.
According to the complaint, the Plaintiff has invested considerable money and effort in order to build up its brand’s goodwill and promote its business. Plaintiff has become a corporate sponsor of local sports teams in Indianapolis and Chicago, among other efforts.
The Defendant has been in business since 2007, and Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s use of “Impact” in their business name “is likely to cause confusion, mistake and deceive third parties as to the affiliation, connection or association of Impact Solutions with Impact Networking and as to whether or not Impact Networking has anything to do with the origin, sponsorship, or approval of the goods, services or other commercial activities of Impact Solutions.”
Plaintiff has formally alleged federal trademark infringement, federal unfair competition, and common law infringement and unfair competition.
The case has not yet been assigned to judges but has been assigned Case number 2:17-cv-00468.