Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
Indiana-based companies, Banjo Corporation and Green Leaf, Inc., are again in litigation over their crossing business of manufacturing and selling valves and pipe fittings. The original complaint brought forth by Banjo, still pending, was for trademark infringement with Green Leaf’s use of the color yellow on their liquid handling valves. Now Green Leaf is suing Banjo for the use of domain names and trademarks. According to the complaint, Green Leaf has consistently used its registered United States federal trademarks, Green Leaf® and TerreMax®, to identify its products in commerce. Green Leaf’s various word marks and a design mark are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office under Nos. 2,642,074, 6,901,382 and 2,642,068.
Green Leaf claims that committed trademark infringement and cyberpiracy by registering several domain names identical or confusingly similar to Green Leaf’s trademarks, including but not limited to the domain names greenleafvalve.com and terremaxvalve.com. It is alleged that these domain names were registered in 2019 by Banjo for the purpose of redirecting consumers to Banjo’s website. Green Leaf insists that Banjo acted in bad faith, attempting to ride on the coattails of good will established by Green Leaf® and TerreMax®.
The complaint also alleges that Banjo renewed these domain names in 2024, continuing to possess the domain names and continuing to divert consumers through them until November of that year. Once the diversion ceased, Green Leaf moved to amend an existing lawsuit with a cyberpiracy counterclaim. The motion was denied, but the court indicated it could bring the claim in a separate action, which it has now done.
Green Leaf contends that Banjo has infringed the Cyberpiracy Prevention provisions under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d). Green Leaf seeks the following relief: an order cancelling or transferring the Infringing Domain Names, monetary damages of $1,000 to $100,000 per domain name, and injunctive relief to prevent further misuses. Green Leaf also seeks attorney’s fees, costs, and interest.
The case has been assigned to Judge James Patrick Hanlon and Magistrate Judge Tim A. Baker in the U.S. District Court of Southern Indiana Case No. 1:24-cv-02031-JPH-TAB.