Judge Louis Stanton
Both C&L International Trading Inc. (C&L) and American Tibetan Health Institute Inc. (ATHI) make and sell tea called “Tibetan Baicao Tea” in similar packaging. Each claims to own registered trademarks for the name “Tibetan Baicao Tea” and its packaging and logos, and each brought suit alleging trademark infringement by the other. Only partly granting ATHI’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint in the action initiated by C&L—13 Civ. 2638—district court dismissed only Count Two of that complaint, asserting counterfeiting violating the Lanham Act, because C&L’s marks were not registered in the principal register of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Dismissal was denied as to all other counts in C&L’s infringement action against the ATHI defendants. C&L’s amended complaint sufficiently stated that consumers associate its marks with its products and that the marks were distinctive as having acquired secondary meaning. In finding that C&L adequately stated claims under §§32 and 43(a) of the Lanham Act—and under New York General Business Law §360-k—the court noted that C&L sufficiently pleaded that the ATHI defendants used its marks in a manner likely to cause confusion among consumers.
