Signeo, Sol Republic to Square Off in Court Trademark Battle
Headphone suppliers Signeo and Sol Republic will square off in court next week as Signeo seeks a preliminary injunction against sales of Sol Republic headphones it claims infringe Signeo’s Soul by Ludacris trademark.
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The hearing Tuesday before U.S. District Court Magistrate Paul Singh Grewal, San Jose, Calif., follows Signeo suing Sol Republic in December, claiming the company’s headphones and earbuds “deliberately, intentionally and willfully” infringed a trademark it registered in 2009. Sol Republic’s headphones, which were launched as in-ear AMPs and AMPs HD headphones at Best Buy and other retailers in October, are “likely to cause confusion and deception” as to their source, Signeo said. Signeo claimed to have first used the Soul by Ludacris trademark in 2003 for headphones, digital audio and CD players and other products.
Sol, founded by Kevin Lee, a former vice president of product development at Monster, countered that Signeo’s motion for preliminary injunction is supported by “almost no admissible evidence.” Signeo also hasn’t shown a “clear likelihood of success in the trademark claim,” Sol said. The Soul by Ludacris brand is “visually very different” from the “SOL” mark, which stands for Soundtrack of Life and is in all capital letters, Sol said. Sol also means “sun” in Spanish, the company said. Signeo’s Soul “has a number of meanings in the music world, none of which has to do with SOL or sun,” Sol said.
Sol also hired Astro Studios in May 2010 to help it create a brand. Sol polled University of San Francisco students, who were working to create Bump headphones as a school project, for their thoughts on a brand. The company planned to have Sol be the corporate name and use “Sonic Roots” for headphones. The students believed Sonic Roots was too wordy and instead voted for the shorter Sol name, the company said. Sol argued that Signeo’s trademark is “weak,” saying there were 86 marks registered with the Soul name for CE products, including Soulra solar-powered speakers and a Soul Femme digital audio player.
Signeo claimed Sol was “spinning a yarn” about the creation of the brand and “seeks to raise questions” about evidence to “confuse the court from the task at hand.” Signeo argued that AV Concepts’ Bob Bonefant, who worked with Signeo in developing the Soul by Ludacris brand, had discussions with Kevin Lee about Sol. Sol had “knowledge” of the Soul trademark and had “fair warning” that Signeo “wouldn’t tolerate” infringement.
Signeo also is waging a court battle with Beats Electronics, which markets Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. Beats counter-sued Signeo International in 2011 claiming it infringed three patents covering the design of Dr. Dre Studio and Solo models. Signeo sued Beats in June in U.S. District Court, San Francisco, seeking a ruling that the Ludacris models don’t infringe Beats patents. In addition to infringing patents, Beats also maintained the Ludacris headphones copy the Dr. Dre trade dress.