Drone maker Hoverfly sues for trademark infringement

On Monday, drone maker Hoverfly Technologies, Inc. filed a complaint in the Eastern District of against defendant Hoverfly, Inc. for trademark infringement and unfair competition.

Drone maker Hoverfly sues for trademark infringement

Technologies alleges that the defendant infringes the plaintiff's Hoverfly mark in connection with its similar goods and services.

According to the complaint, Hoverfly Technologies asserts that the drone maker has continuously used the Hoverfly mark continuously since 2010 and has “made a significant investment” to promote the brand. The trademark was officially registered and issued by the USPTO in 2012.

The drone maker argues that as a result, the company “is the national senior user of the HOVERFLY Trademark,” and that the company “possesses protectable common law trademark rights.”

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Drone Maker Hoverfly Sues For Trademark Infringement 1

However, Hoverfly Technologies averred that in 2018 it “inadvertently did not file a ‘Section 8' declaration of continued use with the USPTO,” reports Law Street.

In April 2017, the plaintiff claimed that the federal trademark for the mark HOVERFLY had or may have had lapsed, and filed a trademark application for the same mark, which is “is identical or confusingly similar to Hoverfly's HOVERFLY Trademark in appearance, pronunciation, connotation and overall commercial impression.”

In addition, the defendant operates a closely related business involving drone photography and videography services and uses the mark on similar online marketing channels.

Hoverfly Technologies states that Hoverfly “is not authorized…to advertise, distribute, sell, offer to sell, or facilitate the sale of any goods or services bearing the HOVERFLY Trademark,” and that the defendant is in violation of the Lanham Act, which protects consumers from being misled or confused by the misuse of existing trademarks.

Hoverfly Technologies demanded a declaratory judgment; to preliminarily and indefinitely stop the defendant from committing further infringement and illegal conduct; to delete the marks from the products, services and other materials of the defendant; to award damages; to award costs and fees; to revoke the registration of the defendant's trademark; and other relief.

Hoverfly Technologies is represented by Bewersdorf PLC and Thompson Coburn LLP.

We will keep an eye on this case and inform you of any further developments.

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Haye Kesteloo
Haye Kesteloo

Haye Kesteloo is the Editor in Chief and Founder of DroneXL.co, where he covers all drone-related news, DJI rumors and writes drone reviews, and EVXL.co, for all news related to electric vehicles. He is also a co-host of the PiXL Drone Show on YouTube and other podcast platforms. Haye can be reached at haye @ dronexl.co or @hayekesteloo.

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One comment

  1. DRONE MAKER HOVERFLY SUES FOR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT” that was filed by the National Law Journal on March 4. The complaint, which calls for a temporary injunction preventing “unfair or deceptive use,” cites several instances in which Samsung devices have been falsely advertised as including features of BlackBerry smartphones and other mobile operating systems to create consumer confusion: — Earlier this month.

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