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By Stan Soocher

Lanham Act Injunction Against Former Commodores Member Enforceable Outside the United States

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction barring former Commodores music group member Thomas McClary from billing his current group as “The Commodores” for live performances. Commodores Entertainment Corp. (CEC) v. McClary, 14-14883. McClary left The Commodores in 1984 but was touring as “The Commodores Featuring Thomas McClary.” The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, granted the preliminary injunction to Commodores Entertainment on CEC's trademark infringement claim under the federal Lanham Act by finding that the remaining members of the original group “maintained quality or control over the [m]arks.” In its affirmance, the Eleventh Circuit also decided the injunction was enforceable outside the United States because: “McClary's booking agent operates from the United States; the customer confusion was not limited to the United Kingdom and Switzerland (where McClary booked performance dates) but was also present in the United States; the marks are not registered in a foreign country; and use of the marks extraterritorially will have an effect on CEC, a United States corporation.”

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