Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
Indianapolis, Indiana – Via its intellectual property counsel, Plaintiff J & J Sports Productions, Inc. of Campbell, California (“J & J Sports”) filed two separate intellectual
property complaints in the Southern District of Indiana alleging unlawful interception and broadcast of “The One” on Saturday, September 14, 2013.
The Defendants in the first lawsuit are Alejandro Soriano Perez, individually and d/b/a El Palenque Restaurant, and El Palenque, #1 LLC, of Noblesville, Indiana. In the second lawsuit, J & J Sports sued Edis Mejia, individually and d/b/a LaCasacada Authentic Mexican Restaurant and Mejia-Miranda, Inc. of Elwood, Indiana.
J & J Sports states that it is the exclusive domestic commercial closed-circuit distributor of the Program. It has sued the Defendants under the Communications Act of 1934 and The Cable & Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. Specifically, Defendants have been accused of violating 47 U.S.C. § 605 and 47 U.S.C. § 553 by displaying the Program at issue on September 14, 2013 without an appropriate license. A count of conversion is also included in both lawsuits.
Plaintiff has sued the non-LLC Defendants as individuals, alleging that they had the right and ability to supervise the activities of the commercial establishments that allegedly engaged in the illegal interception. J & J Sports asserts that the activities that they supervised included the unlawful interception of Plaintiff’s “The One” Program.
J & J Sports also contends that the individual Defendants specifically directed the employees of the restaurants to unlawfully intercept and broadcast Plaintiff’s Program at the commercial establishments or, if they did not, that the actions of the employees of the restaurants are directly imputable to the Defendants sued as individuals by virtue of their purported responsibility for the activities of their respective establishments.
In these two Indiana interception complaints, the intellectual property attorney for J & J Sports listed the following counts:
• Count I: Violation of Title 47 U.S.C. § 605
• Count II: Violation of Title 47 U.S.C. § 553• Count III: Conversion
J & J Sports asks for damages, as well as costs and attorneys’ fees.
The Mejia case was assigned to Judge Tanya Walton Pratt and Magistrate Judge Mark J. Dinsmore in the Southern District of Indiana and assigned Case No. 1:15-cv-01437-TWP-MJD.
The Perez case was assigned to Judge Lawrence J. McKinney and Magistrate Judge Mark J. Dinsmore in the Southern District of Indiana and assigned Case No. 1:15-cv-01436-LJM-MJD.