Coffee Co. Must Pay $2.4M To Marley Family In TM Fight
January 10, 2019 – Media MentionGreenberg Glusker's Bonnie Eskenazi and Josh Geller secured a Ninth Circuit Court win on January 9, 2019, ordering Jammin Java Corp. coffee company to pay $2.4 million in damages to companies connected to late reggae artist Bob Marley for continuing to sell Marley-branded java after a trademark license agreement between the companies was terminated.
In an unpublished opinion, the panel upheld U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson's May 2017 ruling (subs. required) that Jammin Java must pay the full amount in in damages to Fifty-Six Hope Road Music Ltd. and Hope Road Merchandising LLC, ruling that the district court did not err in finding that the written terms of the license agreement precluded Jammin Java's defenses that the companies had orally modified and waived the royalty payment schedule under the agreement.
“The Marley family is pleased with the results of today’s decision and is grateful to the court of appeals for its time and effort," Bonnie Eskenazi, an attorney for the companies, told Law360 on Wednesday.
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