Samsung satisfied a Los Angeles federal jury on Friday that its Galaxy S10 telephones don’t violate the trademark rights of a talent-management company that additionally makes use of the “S10” identify.
The jury discovered that the S10 Leisure & Media had not proven that Samsung’s well-liked smartphones have been more likely to trigger shopper confusion and drown out its model within the market, in accordance with a court docket doc revealed Monday.
Representatives for Samsung and S10 didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark Monday.
S10 Leisure, which manages the pop singers Anitta and Normani, mentioned it started utilizing the S10 identify in 2017. Samsung started promoting its Galaxy S-series smartphones in 2010 and began providing Galaxy S10 telephones in 2019.
S10 argued Samsung’s promoting would confuse prospects into considering the manufacturers have been affiliated, citing Samsung’s use of the same font and colour scheme because the expertise company for its S10 brand and its promotional partnerships with musicians.
The lawsuit mentioned the S10 had obtained social-media messages from folks making an attempt to purchase Samsung’s telephones. It additionally mentioned Samsung was conscious of the corporate earlier than adopting the branding, and that Samsung and S10 had mentioned a possible deal for Anitta to endorse the tech big.
“On account of confusion between Samsung’s S10 telephone line and S10 Leisure’s S10 mark, the worth and goodwill of S10 Leisure’s Instagram and social media footprint has been severely diminished,” the lawsuit mentioned.
Samsung advised the court docket that its use of “S10” wouldn’t trigger confusion, that it had precedence to the S10 identify based mostly on its earlier Galaxy S “household” of marks, and that S10 waited too lengthy to carry the lawsuit.
© Thomson Reuters 2023