Friday, Bill Nye Productions, Inc. presented a trademark infringement lawsuit i temporary restraining order in the Northern District of Illinois against numerous domain names linked to fully interactive websites that sell and import counterfeit Bill Nye products.
According to the complaint, William Stafford Nye, popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American mechanical engineer, science communicator, television host, and CEO of the leading non-profit space advocacy organization, the Planetary Society. In addition, Bill Nye Productions owns and manages the licensing, sale and marketing of Bill Nye branded products, including books, t-shirts, hoodies and other apparel.
Plaintiff claims that it owns federally registered trademarks for “The Science Guy” and has common law trademark rights in the Bill Nye name and mark. It further argues that it has spent significant resources to protect and display the marks, which has made the marks widely recognized and famous worldwide.
The complaint alleges that the defendants have created numerous Internet stores and designed them to appear to sell genuine products offered and sold by Bill Nye Productions while actually selling inferior knockoffs. Plaintiff argues that these e-commerce stores are selling unauthorized and unlicensed products and are infringing on Plaintiff’s trademarks to trade on Bill Nye’s reputation and goodwill.
The complaint alleges that the defendants’ websites are estimated to receive tens of millions of hits per year and generate more than $135 billion annually in online sales. It further alleges that Defendants have illegitimately optimized their Internet stores through search engine optimization and social media spamming to mislead consumers into thinking their products are authorized by Plaintiff . In addition, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants have concealed both his identity and the full extent of his counterfeiting operation to avoid liability.
Accordingly, the plaintiff filed the complaint alleging trademark infringement and counterfeiting, false designation of origin violation of the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and trademark infringement of the right common and seeks a permanent injunction, liquidation of profits, statutory damages, costs and attorneys’ fees. In addition to the complaint, the plaintiff filed a motion for a temporary restraining order which included a temporary injunction, transfer of the defendants’ domain names, a temporary asset restriction, expedited discovery and service of process by email and /or electronic publication.
The plaintiff is represented by Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd
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