LOS ANGELES—Court documents show BDSM-related companies Sportsheets and The Stockroom are in a legal battle over a trademark.
Sportsheets filed the initial complaint in May 2016 in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois, accusing adult retailer and manufacturer Stockroom of trademark violation because it used “under bed” as a description for some of its restraint products. Sportsheets registered the phrase “Under the Bed Restraint System” in 2015. The suit claims Stockroom sold restraint systems using the description “Bedspread Under Bed Bondage Straps” and “KinkLab Bedspread Under Bed Bondage Straps.”
The original suit seeks “remedies for trademark infringement and unfair competition under the Lanham Act [the primary federal trademark statute in the U.S.] …; for violation of the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act … and common law trademark infringement and unfair competition under Illinois and/or California law.”
Stockroom filed a countersuit in August, arguing Sportsheets had initially agreed to allow Stockroom to change the product descriptions after it sold out of its current stock, but then filed the lawsuit anyway. Also in its countersuit, Stockroom is asking Sportsheets’ trademark be cancelled because it is for a generic phrase.
The case has since been moved from Illinois to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and has been assigned to Judge Philip S. Gutierrez.
