LION PROTECTED!: Court Enters TRO Banning Symple Lending from Using Confusingly Similar Lion Shield Logo

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All right so quick update everyone.

As you will recall last week these guys at Symple Lending decided it would be a great idea to blow me off when we asked them very very nicely to stop using our logo.

TIME’S UP: Troutman Amin, LLP Will be Suing Symple Lending Tomorrow And It Didn’t Have to Be This Way

So we had to sue them in federal court, which we did on Friday. Complaint here: Complaint to Protect My Lion

Monday we requested a temporary restraining order from the court to ban further use of their copycat lion logo.

Even then I would have dealt with these guys nicely and probably withdrawn the request if they had just agreed to play ball. Instead they opposed our motion– and even cited to TCPAWorld.com in an effort to convince the Court to let them keep using the logo!

So not smart.

Well after a little bit of delay occasioned by the case bouncing around a little, just a few minutes ago the Court entered an a TRO banning the use of the confusingly similar mark Symple had been making use of.

Full order is here: TRO Banning Use of Mark

Here are some of the key pieces:

  1. Court determined we are likely to win the case on the merits (yep);
  2. Court determined we would suffer irreparable injury if Symple keeps using their  confusingly similar trademark as its use “threatens serious damage to Plaintiffs’ registered trademark. The potential damage to Plaintiffs’ goodwill would likely be irreparable.”
  3. Court determined injunctive relief is in the public interest and “prevents harm to Plaintiffs’ intellectual property and avoids public confusion.”

As a result Symple is banned from:

  1. “[P]osting or continuing to post on its commercial social media pages the design consisting of a yellow lion wearing a blue-and-yellow patterned crown on an inner blue inner crest placed on a blue and yellow patterned outer crest (the “Infringing Mark”);
  2. Displaying the Infringing Mark at its offices during events open to the public; or
  3. Displaying or using the Infringing Mark in any capacity that may be visible to consumers.

Plus Symple may not assist anyone else in violating the Order.

Order takes effect as soon as we post bond– which we will do immediately.

Look, it brings me no joy to have to occupy a federal court’s time with this or to take a small business apart like this.

But if you call down the thunder– expect to receive it.

And we aren’t done yet.

That’s all I can say for now.

Love you all (except the lion logo stealers.)

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Published by Eric "Czar" Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

1 Comment

  1. I had to get all the way to Paragraph 60 in your Complaint to fully understand. They are telemarketing scumbags. They deserve everything you can dish out at them. 35 percent interest? Ridiculous!

    Reply

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