Trademark case: Libertarian National Committee, Inc. v. Saliba, USA

However, the dissenting group’s use of the trademark on its website did not create a likelihood of confusion where the dissenters clearly identified the dispute between themselves and the Libertarian National Committee.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld in part, and denied in part, a district court’s preliminary injunction against the use a registered trademark owned by the Libertarian National Committee by a group of dissenters within the Libertarian Party of Michigan. In generally upholding the grant of injunction, the appellate court concluded that the Lanham Act applied to the dispute even though the dissenters’ use of the mark was not commercial. Further, in line with the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Jack Daniel’s Properties v. VIP Prods, the Sixth Circuit court here decided that the dissenters’ use of the Libertarian National Committee’s mark was not protected by the First Amendment against a Lanham Act infringement action. In generally upholding the injunction, the court found that the dissenters’ use was unauthorized, and a likelihood of confusion resulted from its use of the Libertarian National Committee’s mark. However, the use of the mark on the dissenters’ website did not cause confusion because their website clearly noted that it was distinct from the LNC (Libertarian National Committee, Inc. v. Saliba, No. 23-1856 (6th Cir. Aug. 28, 2024)).

Case date: 28 August 2024
Case number: No. 23-1856
Court: United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit

A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law

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