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Plaintiffs,
VS.
Defendants.
/
Defendants are seeking attorney's fees and costs under the Lrmham Act,which allows
Sdexceptional''requires the Courtexam ine its history. This Court dism issed Plaintiffs' case
explained the parties' prior history. Before filing this case, the parties participated in an
arbitration proceeding before a three-m em ber panelunder the U niform D om ain N nm e Dispute
Resolution Policy. That panel found the D efendants' use of the dom ain nam e predated the
Plaintiffs' creation of their tradem ark, which resulted in a ruling in favor of the D efendants.
Plaintiffs'claim to the dom ain nam elacked merit,thePlaintiffsfiled thiscase underthe Lnnhnm
Act. TheCourtfindsthatthiscaseislexceptional''warranting an award offeesand costsunder
the Lanham Act. This is exactly the type ofunjustified litigation that section 35(a)of the
Lanham Actsoughtto prevent. Schmidtv.Versacomp,Inc.,No. 08-60084-C1V-M OORE,2012
1.Backeround
prom otional materials predated Plaintiffs' trademarks by several years. The Court found
the Defendants' use of the term tdBeautiful People'' predated the Plaintiffs' trademark
registration.
that course of action. Plaintiffs also soughttransfer ofD efendants'dom ain nam e to them selves
by filing a com plaint under the U niform D om ain N am e Dispute Resolution Policy. A three-
m em ber panel found that D efendants' registration of its dom ain nam es and their services
2
predated Plaintiffs'registration by severalyears. ThepanelrejectedPlaintiffs'claimsand found
PlaintiffshadengagedinGsreversedomainhijacking'' .
After this Courtdism issed this case, Plaintiffs filed a Rule 59(e) motion to alterthe
theRule59(e)motion andthemotiontorecuse.
Il.A nalvsis
Fitness, LL C v. ICON H ealth & Fitness, Inc., 134 S.Ct.1749 (2014),the Supreme Court
adopted a far less stringent standard defining exceptional'' consistent with its ordinar
y
dictionary meaning: uncom mon, rare, not ordinary, out of the ordinary course unusual,or
,
special.Id at1756.
with respectto the substantive strength of a party's litigating position . . . orthe unreasonable
m anner in which the case w as litigated.''Id. D istrictcourts m ust exercise discretion on a case-
3
1d After Octane Fitness,the Third,Fourth, Fifth,and Ninth Circuits have applied the Octane
should have known were m eritless.Prior to ling this case, an arbitration panel found that
noted in its Order Granting the M otion to Dism iss that even the Plaintiffs'Second Amended
Plaintiffs'responseto the motion forfeesputthe icing on the cake. Even knowing they had no
viable claim sgiven the well-established priority ofuse doctrine, the Plaintiffspursued thiscase
when Defendants refused to settle by providing a licensing agreem ent. ln responding to the
lawsuit by settling this matter out of courtvia licensing but Defendants refused to do so.''
undertheLanham Act.
Plaintiffs argue that because Defendants have paid their attorney's fees, the m otion
thiscaseis$62,434.75.
experience and his hourly billing rate in this case ranged from $645 to $675. M r.Harry
Schafer'sdeclaration provided M r. Zagare'shourly rate of $425. M r. Zagare,a shareholderat
Plaintiffsobjectto 106.2 hotlrs billed on this case through M ay 31, 2017. W ithout
explanation,Plaintiffsprovidedalistoftimeentriesand assortedcostitemsandobjectedtothem
as lduplicative or excessive.'
' Plaintiffs'objections do notcomportwith LocalRule 7.3(a),
which provides:
W ithin fourteen (14) days after tiling and services ofthe motion,the
respondentshalldescribe with reasonable particularity each tim e entry or
nontaxable expense to which itobjects,both asto issues ofentitlement
and asto am ount,and shallprovide supporting legalauthority. Ifa party
objectsto an hourly rate,itscotmselmustsubmitan affidavitgiving its
firm 's hourly rates for the m atter and include any contingency,partial
contingency,orotherarrangementsthatcould changethe effective hourly
rate.
S.D. Fla. L.R. 7.3(a). Plaintiffs' response falls far short of meeting the Local Rule's
requirem ents. M erely stating thatan entry isduplicative orexcessive doesnotsuffice underthe
C.Costs
indeed reasonable. z;
DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers at M iami,Florida,this ofNovem ber
2017.
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