Ninth Circuit Allows GE Unit to Seek Default Interest
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the owner of a trademark registered by a Texas corporation that filed for chapter 7 has the right to sue for violation of the mark in Michigan, reversing a district court's ruling that the owner lost the right to sue when his company dissolved. Guaranty Residential Lending Inc., a Michigan-based mortgage company, sued Homestead Mortgage Company LLC, another mortgage company in Michigan, for intentional misappropriation of its common-law trademark. In 2005, GRL sold its mortgage business. However, the trademark belonged to Bob Fitzner, a resident of Texas, who had registered the mark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1996, and who filed for chapter 7 in 2001.
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