Opinion ID: 4566353
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Intent to Misappropriate

Text: Finally, Off Lease argues that a reasonable jury could conclude that Lakeland intended to misappropriate Off Lease’s goodwill when it put up its billboards. The alleged evidence of this intent is that (1) Lakeland’s billboards were created within months of Off Lease placing its billboards along I-4; (2) Lakeland’s owner was 15 Case: 20-10825 Date Filed: 09/17/2020 Page: 16 of 16 aware of Off Lease and its billboards; and (3) the font size of the phrase “Don’t Pay More” on the billboards suggests an intent to misappropriate. We disagree. This evidence would not allow a reasonable jury to conclude that “the defendant adopted its mark with the intent of deriving benefit from the reputation of the plaintiff.” Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes & of Malta v. Fla. Priory of the Knights Hospitallers of the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta, The Ecumenical Order, 809 F.3d 1171, 1188 (11th Cir. 2015) (cleaned up). Such intent involves “[b]ad faith in the adoption and use of a trademark [that] normally involves efforts by a party to ‘pass off’ its product as that of another.” Id. (citation omitted). Mere knowledge of another’s mark does not create an inference of intent to misappropriate. And as the record shows, Lakeland’s business name was displayed prominently on its billboards. This display suggests that Lakeland had no intent to trade on Off Lease’s goodwill or reputation, irrespective of the precise font sizes used. For these reasons, the district court did not err in granting summary judgment against Off Lease on its federal and Florida trademark infringement claims.