Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
New Jersey Plaintiff, Freedom Mortgage Corporation, has filed a complaint against New Albany, Indiana Defendant, Freedompoint, LLC, for claims of trademark infringement and related unfair competition in the home mortgage and refinancing field.
According to the complaint, the Plaintiff has owned and used several FREEDOM trademarks since December 1992, and its subsidiary (Roundpoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation) has owned and used ROUNDPOINT marks for the last 13 years. The trademarks that are at issue in the lawsuit are the FREEDOM MORTGAGE trademark (Reg. No. 4,631,944), the FREEDOM MORTGAGE logo trademark (Reg. No. 4,631,946), the ROUNDPOINT trademark (Reg. No. 3,595,914), and ROUNDPOINT EXCHANGE (Reg. No. 5,172,847). According to Court documents, all the trademarks are specified for use in financial services, specifically the mortgage industry.
Freedom Mortgage alleges that the Defendant, Freedompoint, began using the word and design marks FREEDOMPOINT, FREEDOMPOINT MORTGAGE, and their FREEDOMPOINT logo as early as 2020. It is the Plaintiffs’ belief that the FREEDOMPOINT mark used by the Defendants in similar financial and mortgage services is a combination of its own FREEDOM MORTGAGE and ROUNDPOINT marks and, therefore, causes confusion among its customer bases. Furthermore, the Plaintiffs’ contend that the Defendants previously knew about the FREEDOM marks owned by the Plaintiff and have refused to cease-and-desist from using the alleged Infringing Marks.
Freedom Mortgage Corporation asked the Court to prevent Freedompoint, LLC from further use of the Infringing Marks. In addition, it has asked that the Defendants receive an order compelling them to destroy all goods, services, advertising, etc., that contains the FREEDOMPOINT mark and to pay the Plaintiffs the profits and damages arising from the alleged infringement.
This case has been assigned to Judge Tanya Walton Pratt and Magistrate Judge Kellie M. Barr, in the U.S. District Court of Southern Indiana, and assigned Case No. 4:23-cv-00022-TWP-KMB.