Blumberg Industries Files New 337 Complaint Regarding Certain Lighting Products
On May 4, 2010, Blumberg Industries, Inc., d/b/a Fine Art Lamps of Miami Lakes, Florida (“Fine Art Lamps”) filed a complaint requesting that the ITC commence an investigation pursuant to Section 337. The complaint alleges that Lights & More, Inc. (“L&M”) of San Juan, Puerto Rico and Tampa, Florida unlawfully imports into the United States, and/or sells within the United States after importation certain lighting products, lamps and/or lighting fixtures that infringe U.S. Design Patent No. D570,038; and Copyright Registration Nos. VA 1-399-618 and VA 1-415-353, and U.S. Trademark Registration Nos. 3,703,710, 3,703,711, 3,700,479, and 3,700,480.
According to the complaint, the subject matter relates to “a lighting fixture individually … as well as individual components of the lighting fixture that are consistently expressed in all of the models of the line, such as beveled, arcuate crystals; arcuate support arms; and the combined support arms and crystals where the crystals appear as an extension of the support, and thus an extension of a flowing artistic gesture.…Additionally, the combination of a support and a crystal is presented to the viewer as part metallic finish and part optically aesthetic crystal.”
The complaint asserts that the following L&M products infringe the intellectual property of Fine Art Lamps: (a) chandelier with L&M’s product number 18288, (b) chandelier with L&M’s product number 18292, (c) semi-flush mount lamp with L&M’s product number 18290, (d) lantern with L&M’s product number 18296, (e) L&M’s pendant lamp, and (f) lantern with L&M’s product number 18296.
With respect to the technical prong of the domestic industry requirement, Fine Art Lamps asserts that its BEVELED ARCS™ Collection includes at least the trade dress that incorporates the registered trademarks and copyright for BEVELED ARCS™. Regarding the economic prong of the domestic industry requirement, Fine Art Lamps asserts that it maintains a manufacturing and warehousing facility of more than 400,000 square feet in Florida and “actively advertises, markets, and otherwise promotes its BEVELED ARCS™ Collection, and has incurred over $3 million in promotional expenditures since the introduction of the BEVELED ARCS™ Collection in January 2007, of which a substantial percentage was devoted to promoting the BEVELED ARCS™ Collection.”
As to potential remedy, Fine Art Lamps requests that the “Commission issue a general exclusion order, or in the alternative, a limited exclusion order, as well as an order for L&M to cease and desist from committing further acts of” patent, trademark, and copyright infringement.
