R.L. Polk & Co. v. InfoUSA, Inc.
Docket: No. 02-2452
Court: Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; April 8, 2004; Federal Appellate Court
R.L. Polk Co. sold its trademark rights to “Polk City Directory” to Equifax, Inc., while retaining rights to the “Polk” trademark for its automotive data business. Equifax subsequently sold the directory business to m/oUSA, which began expanding its use of the "Polk" name. In response, R.L. Polk filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against m/oUSA, alleging infringement of its “Polk” trademark. The district court granted R.L. Polk a preliminary injunction, finding a likelihood of success on the merits based on an analysis of eight factors from a precedent case. The court determined that five factors favored R.L. Polk, including the strength of its mark and the relatedness of goods, while three did not weigh strongly against it. The court also found that R.L. Polk would suffer irreparable injury without the injunction and that the balance of harms and public interest favored R.L. Polk. After issuing a stay related to security issues under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(c), the stay was lifted thirty days later to allow the injunction to take effect. On appeal, m/oUSA contested the district court's findings but the appellate court upheld the district court's decision, agreeing that R.L. Polk met the necessary criteria for a preliminary injunction. The appellate court affirmed the district court's judgment without issuing an additional opinion, noting that the district court had sufficiently articulated its reasoning. Additionally, m/oUSA altered its branding by rebranding "Polk City Directory" to "Polk Directories" and utilized the name "Polk" in various marketing efforts, including a domain name and customer service email.