The jury found that S10 Entertainment & Media had not
shown that Samsung's popular smartphones were likely to cause consumer
confusion and drown out its brand in the marketplace, according to a court
document published Monday.
Representatives for Samsung and S10 did not immediately
respond to requests for comment Monday.
S10 Entertainment, which manages the pop singers Anitta and
Normani, said it began using the S10 name in 2017. Samsung began selling its
Galaxy S-series smartphones in 2010 and started offering Galaxy S10 phones in
2019.
S10 argued Samsung's advertising would confuse customers
into thinking the brands were affiliated, citing Samsung's use of a similar
font and color scheme as the talent agency for its S10 logo and its promotional
partnerships with musicians.
The lawsuit said S10 had received social-media messages from
people trying to buy Samsung's phones. It also said Samsung was aware of the
company before adopting the branding, and that Samsung and S10 had discussed a
potential deal for Anitta to endorse the tech giant.
"As a result of confusion between Samsung's S10 phone
line and S10 Entertainment's S10 mark, the value and goodwill of S10
Entertainment's Instagram and social media footprint has been severely
diminished," the lawsuit said.
Samsung told the court that its use of "S10" would
not cause confusion, that it had priority to the S10 name based on its earlier
Galaxy S "family" of marks, and that S10 waited too long to bring the
lawsuit. © Reuters
0 comments:
Post a Comment