Opinion ID: 418788
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 1 Monte Carlo Shirt, Inc., a New York corporation, contracted with Daewoo Industrial Company, Ltd. (Daewoo), a South Korean corporation, to purchase 2400 dozen men's dress shirts manufactured to its specifications and bearing its label. Monte Carlo rejected the shirts after they arrived in this country because the documents necessary to clear the shipment arrived too late for Christmas sales. The American subsidiary of Daewoo, Daewoo International (America) Corp. (Daewoo America), purchased the shirts from Daewoo and sold them without Monte Carlo's permission to discount retailers, with Monte Carlo labels and polybags still intact. In response Monte Carlo sued Daewoo 1 for breach of contract, common-law trademark and tradename infringement, interference with business, conversion, violation of a provision of the California Unfair Practices Act (CUPA), Cal.Bus. & Prof.Code Sec. 17043, and violation of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. Secs. 1051-1127. Jurisdiction was predicated on diversity, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1332, as well as the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1121, and the trademark and unfair competition provisions of 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1338. Daewoo cross-complained for breach of contract. 2 Monte Carlo tried its case before a jury. The interference with business and conversion claims were apparently abandoned at trial and are not on appeal. The jury entered a verdict for Monte Carlo on the breach of contract claim and awarded it $79,073 for lost profits. Monte Carlo also prevailed on the trademark claim, for which it received general compensatory damages of $1,582,735, special compensatory damages of $70,048, and punitive damages of $3,000,000. The jury denied relief on the claim under CUPA, and the court directed a verdict for Daewoo on the Lanham Act claim. 3 Daewoo then moved for a new trial or, in the alternative, for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The court refused to order a new trial on the breach of contract claim, but granted the motion on the remaining claim of trademark infringement. The court based its decision on its belief that the jury was misinstructed on the elements of trademark infringement and on a variety of errors affecting the computation of damages. The new trial was never held. Daewoo moved for summary judgment and the court granted its motion, holding that [t]he sale of the Monte Carlo shirts with the Monte Carlo labels intact could not as a matter of law deceive or confuse the public concerning the source and origin of the shirts. (citation omitted). 4 Monte Carlo appeals from the order partially granting a new trial on the trademark infringement claim and from the subsequent grant of summary judgment against it on that issue. 2 Daewoo cross-appeals the denial of a new trial on the breach of contract claim. We affirm the dispositions by the trial court. Because we accept the court's view that no trademark claim could be shown on these facts, neither in the first trial nor in a new one, we need not address the propriety of the grant of a new trial. We discuss only the issuance of summary judgment on the trademark claim and the denial of a new trial on the breach of contract claim.