Case: Trademarks/Distinctiveness (11th Cir.)

The Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded a federal district court in Florida’s decision granting Scarpello Consulting Inc. summary judgment in Engineered Tax Services Inc.'s trademark infringement action. ETS and Scarpello Consulting Inc. both provide specialized tax services, and after negotiations for ETS to buy Scarpello broke down, Scarpello paid Google to have its website appear first in searches for “engineered tax services.” ETS sued Scarpello for trademark infringement, and Scarpello countered that ETS’s federal trademark for “Engineered Tax Services” was invalid. The district court determined that no reasonable jury could find the mark valid. But the appeals court ruled that ...