Opinion ID: 743588
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Reverse Palming Off

Text: 70 At trial, Softel also claimed that Dragon's actions violated § 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a). Softel claims that Dragon is guilty of reverse palming off because it failed to credit Softel when it did the following acts: demonstrated a program that incorporated Softel routines at an International Interactive Communications Society (IICS) meeting; sent letters to the Kurta Corporation soliciting a co-marketing arrangement for several programs that included Softel code; and started a division within their company called Dragon Expert Systems and marketed it as capable of creating interactive programming. 71 The district court rejected these claims. See Softel II at C.L. pp 35-40. It found that Fiondella had not written the code underlying the program demonstrated at the IICS meeting, or, if he had, the contribution of his code was de minimis. See id. at C.L. pp 37-38 & n.3. It also found that the letters written by Dragon merely state that Dragon has the present ability to produce interactive computer programs. They do not make any claim as to how Dragon gained the ability to produce such programs. Id. at C.L. p 40. 72 This Court has stated that a plaintiff alleging reverse palming off under the Lanham Act must prove the following: (1) that the work at issue originated with the plaintiff; (2) that origin of the work was falsely designated by the defendant; (3) that the false designation of origin was likely to cause consumer confusion; and (4) that the plaintiff was harmed by the defendant's false designation of origin. Lipton v. Nature Co., 71 F.3d 464, 473 (2d Cir.1995) (citing Waldman Publ'g Corp. v. Landoll, Inc., 43 F.3d 775, 781-85 (2d Cir.1994)). We have also stated that the plaintiff is required to prove that the defendant misrepresented an inherent quality or characteristic of the defendant's product. National Ass'n of Pharm. Mfrs. v. Ayerst Lab., 850 F.2d 904, 917 (2d Cir.1988) (internal quotation marks omitted). 73 We have reviewed the record and find sufficient evidence there to sustain the district court's finding that even if the program exhibited by Dragon at the IICS meeting did use Fiondella's image retrieval routines, these routines did not form an inherent quality or characteristic of the program for the purposes of § 43(a). Softel challenges this evidence: it argues that the court never examined the program that was actually displayed at the meeting because, Softel claims, the version of the program submitted by Dragon in discovery was different than the one displayed at the meeting. Softel made this same objection at trial and the district court received the program subject to the condition that the defendant connect it to the program shown at the meeting. On this appeal, however, Softel does not argue that receiving the evidence subject to connection was illegitimate, or that the program was not in fact subsequently connected. Therefore, Softel has waived its objections to the version of the program examined by the district court. The court's finding was not clearly erroneous; we affirm it. 74 We also affirm the district court's finding that Dragon's letters regarding Dragon Expert Systems do not violate § 43(a) because they merely asserted a present ability to produce certain programs. See Softel II at C.L. p 39-40. There was no false designation of origin. Lipton, 71 F.3d at 473. This Court has stated that as a matter of law, a false copyright notice alone cannot constitute a false designation of origin within the meaning of a § 43(a) of the Lanham Act. EFS Mktg., Inc. v. Russ Berrie & Co., 76 F.3d 487, 492 (2d Cir.1996) (quoting Lipton, 71 F.3d at 473); see also Kregos v. Associated Press, 937 F.2d 700, 711 (2d Cir.1991). Without a requirement of some additional misrepresentation of originality beyond mere use of a copyright symbol, [plaintiffs] could convert all improper copyright claims into Lanham Act violations. EFS, 76 F.3d at 492 (citing Lipton, 71 F.3d at 473; Kregos, 937 F.2d at 711). Here, there was not even a misleading use of the copyright symbol. Therefore, Softel has failed to show this additional misrepresentation of originality.