Sears Pushes Claims Against Ex-Licensee Over New Store to Trial

A small-town retailer must face trial on claims it used unregistered Sears Hometown Stores LLC trademarks after terminating its licensing deal with Sears, an Indiana federal judge ruled.

Lynn Retail Inc., which opened “Schneider’s Hometown” where the licensed Sears used to be, argued Sears had no trademark rights in the word “Hometown,” a red-white-blue color scheme, or the store phone number. But Sears raised enough questions about the likelihood of consumer confusion to get its unfair competition claim to a jury, the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana said.

Sears also defeated Lynn Retail, Jerry Schneider ...