The U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in West Palm Beach entered a default against Ronin Entertainment for failure to answer or otherwise plead to the complaint against it within the time required by law, said a clerk’s notice Thursday (docket 9:23-cv-80008). Ronin is one of about a dozen named defendants, including Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart, that independent film company Redoak Communications alleges are unlawfully selling unlicensed DVD and Blu-ray copies online of the 1981 film Just Before Dawn. Ronin is the second defendant in two days to have defaulted in the case for failure to answer Redoak’s Jan. 4 complaint (see 2302090017).

BMG Rights Management and its co-plaintiffs asked the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas in Marshall for expedited discovery on Altice’s motion to transfer the case to the Eastern District of New York, said BMG’s unopposed motion Thursday (docket 2:22-cv-00471). BMG alleges Altice ignored copyright infringement committed by thousands of its high-speed internet subscribers (see 2212150019). Altice said virtually every witness and document custodian with information relevant to Altice’s policies for addressing alleged infringement is located in Eastern New York, where Altice is headquartered (see 2301230037). Good cause exists for the parties to conduct expedited venue discovery before briefing begins on BMG’s opposition to Altice’s venue transfer motion, said BMG. Venue discovery will be useful to the court in addressing whether Eastern New York is a more convenient venue than Eastern Texas, it said. Expedited venue discovery is sought “to yield evidence of relevance and use” to the court in deciding the venue dispute, including gaining access to nonpublic information about Altice’s operations, it said.

North Carolina acted much like the pirate Blackbeard in its theft of documentary footage shot of Blackbeard's flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, documentarian Rick Allen told the U.S. District Court for the Eastern North Carolina in an amended complaint Wednesday (docket 5:15-cv-627). Plaintiff Allen sued the state for copyright infringement for its use of his footage of the ship in various tourism promotions, a case the Supreme Court ultimately rejected in 2020. In his amended complaint, Allen is targeting the state's Blackbeard's Law, which was enacted in 2015 and puts all of his work regarding the ship into public domain without compensating him. "Adding insult to the no compensation injury, Defendants passed Blackbeard’s Law without a modicum of notice or opportunity to be heard," said Allen. "It is a garish trespass on the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution." The suit asks the court for a declaratory judgment that Blackbeard’s Law is unconstitutional, an order enjoining state officials from further copyright infringements, and for the state to be ordered to compensate him. Defendants include Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and Attorney General Josh Stein (D). The Attorney General's Office didn't comment Thursday.

The U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in West Palm Beach entered a default against Grindhouse Video for failure to answer or otherwise plead to the complaint against it within the time required by law, said a clerk’s notice Wednesday (docket 9:23-cv-80008). Grindhouse is one of about a dozen named defendants, including Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart, that independent film company Redoak Communications alleges are unlawfully selling unlicensed DVD and Blu-ray copies online of the 1981 film Just Before Dawn (see 2301060023).

Jury selection is set for June 3, 2024, on BMG Rights Management allegations that Altice ignored copyright violations by thousands of its high-speed internet subscribers (see 2212150019), said an order signed Tuesday (docket 2:22-cv-00471) by U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap for Eastern Texas in Marshall. March 4, 2024, is the deadline for completing discovery. Pending before Gilstrap is Altice’s Jan. 20 motion to transfer venue to the Eastern District of New York where Altice is headquartered (see 2301230037).

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga for Eastern Virginia in Alexandria signed an order Thursday (docket 1:21-cv-00610) dismissing with prejudice all of Marriott International’s claims against defendant ResortCom International in Marriott’s robocalling trademark infringement lawsuit. Marriott and ResortCom “reached a mutually agreeable settlement,” and agreed each side will be responsible for its own fees and costs, said the stipulation of dismissal that Trenga signed. Marriott and ResortCom engaged in contentious debate in recent weeks over ResortCom’s dual motions to dismiss and for summary judgment (see 2301180021). Marriott alleged ResortCom knew for years its clients were unlawfully posing as Marriott telemarketers but continued giving them essential support services. ResortCom countered that Marriott couldn’t meet the burden of proving its clients violated the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, as Marriott had alleged.

DirecTV’s claims for trademark infringement against defendants WNK Associates, the Great Mile, Waleed Iqbal and Khalid Iqbal are barred by its “express consent,” said the defendants’ first amended answer Monday (docket 6:22-cv-00423) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas in Tyler. DirecTV alleges the culprits, impersonating DirecTV telemarkers, typically contact existing or potential DirecTV customers to offer them nonexistent free or significantly discounted services or products, and then they take the consumer’s money, usually in the form of prepaid gift cards that are subsequently laundered (see 2301100039). WNK was an authorized dealer of DirecTV services up until late 2019, said the defendants' answer. In this capacity, any use of DirecTV’s trademark was made with DirecTV’s “express or implied consent,” it said. Any “residual use” by the defendants of DirecTV’s trademark amounted to “innocent infringement,” it said.

A jury or bench trial lasting five or more days is scheduled to begin in June or July 2024 on Charter Communications’ lawsuit against a Texas startup, Knowteq Solutions, alleging misuse of Charter's trademarks in scams to steal customers' information (see 2210070016), said a docket control order (docket 4:22-cv-03433]) signed Wednesday. The order by U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Edison for Southern Texas in Houston set a Jan. 27 deadline for amending the pleadings or adding new parties. Jan. 12 is the deadline for completing discovery, it said. Knowteq and Natoshia Ellzey of Katy, Texas, its “sole member and manager,” are alleged to have sent text solicitations to Charter subscribers using the Charter and Spectrum “family” of trademarks and “falsely stating Charter subscribers could receive a discount on their Spectrum bills" if paid through Knowteq, said Charter’s complaint. A subscriber responds to the text message with the assumption he or she is communicating with Charter or an authorized vendor, it said.

Averon’s unopposed motion for leave Thursday to file an amended trade secrets misappropriation complaint against AT&T appears to have negated Monday’s deadline for AT&T to answer the original Oct. 11 action (see 2210120040). AT&T is alleged to have courted Averon as a business partner for its passwordless authentication technology, only to use that technology to form the ZenKey joint venture with T-Mobile and Verizon. The amended complaint names “AT&T Corp.” and “AT&T Services” as the “proper” AT&T parties and drops “AT&T Inc.” without prejudice, said Averon’s motion (docket 1:22-cv-01341) in U.S. District Court for Delaware. It also provides “additional clarity” on the Averon trade secrets at issue in the dispute. Averon filed the proposed amended complaint under seal, and the public version is heavily redacted. The amended complaint “involves a Fortune 15 corporation that misappropriated proprietary software technology from a start-up company under the guise of collaboration, and then used its size advantage and monopoly power to drive the start-up out of business by poaching its existing and potential customers and locking it out of the marketplace,” it said. AT&T previously denied any wrongdoing, calling Averon’s lawsuit a publicity stunt (see 2210130012).

Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga for Eastern Virginia in Alexandria signed an order Wednesday (docket 1:21-cv-00610) entering default judgment against defendant Dynasty Marketing Group in Marriott International’s robocalling trademark infringement lawsuit. Trenga’s order cited Dynasty’s “repeated discovery failures.” In a separate order Wednesday, Trenga adopted a consent motion setting Jan. 17 as the deadline for Marriott to respond to the motions to dismiss and for summary judgment filed by another defendant, ResortCom International. ResortCom’s optional reply deadline is Jan. 27, said his order. Marriott sued various defendants in May 2021 seeking to thwart robocallers from impersonating Marriott telemarketers, to the detriment of Marriott’s brand and consumers receiving the calls (see 2210070013).