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Keywords

plaintiffdefendantinjunctioncompliancegood faith
defendantinjunctionwillcompliancegood faith

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Commodores Entertainment Corp. v. McClary, Not Reported in F.Supp.3d, 2014 WL 6610140

Facts

This case involves a preliminary injunction issued against the Defendant, prohibiting the use of certain Marks, including the names 'The Commodores featuring Thomas McClary' and 'The 2014 Commodores.' Following the issuance of the injunction, the Plaintiff alleged that the Defendant continued to use these Marks on his website and social media. The Defendant responded by providing evidence of his efforts to comply with the injunction, including disabling several websites and removing the Marks. The Court evaluated the Defendant's compliance and good faith efforts.

Defendant disabled several of his websites 'in a good faith effort to comply with the Court's Order' and '[b]y late afternoon on Monday, October 20, 2014, … [had] removed substantially all of the Commodores mark [sic] on the Defendant's website and social media account.'

Issue

Whether the Defendant should be held in civil contempt for allegedly violating the preliminary injunction.

Whether the Defendant should be held in civil contempt for his alleged ongoing use of the Marks on his website and social media account.

Rule

A party may be held in civil contempt if they fail to comply with a court order. However, substantial compliance may be excused if it is demonstrated that the noncompliance was part of a good faith effort to comply with the order.

Conduct that evidences substantial, but not complete, compliance with the [preliminary injunction] may be excused if it was made as part of a good faith effort at compliance.

Analysis

In this case, the Court assessed the Defendant's actions following the preliminary injunction. The Defendant provided evidence of his attempts to remove the Marks and demonstrated substantial compliance with the injunction. The Court noted that good faith efforts to comply can mitigate the consequences of noncompliance, leading to the conclusion that the Defendant's actions were sufficient to avoid a finding of contempt.

Upon consideration, the Court finds Defendant's efforts to be substantial and in good faith; thus, he has complied with the injunction, and he will not be held in civil contempt.

Conclusion

The Court found that the Defendant had complied with the injunction and would not be held in civil contempt.

Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the Order to Show Cause (Doc. 66) is DISCHARGED.

Who won?

The Defendant prevailed in this case as the Court determined that he had made substantial efforts to comply with the preliminary injunction. The Court recognized that while the Defendant's compliance was not complete, his good faith efforts to remove the Marks from his website and social media accounts were significant enough to avoid a finding of civil contempt.

The Court finds that the Defendant's efforts to comply with the injunction were substantial and in good faith, thus he will not be held in civil contempt.

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