In Select Comfort Corporation v. Dires LLC (0:12-cv-02899-DWF-SER), the plaintiffs claimed that Dires used various Select Comfort trademarks including “Sleep Number” as part of a Google AdWords program to increase traffic to the personalcomfortbed.com site. The plaintiffs alleged that Dires’ use of the Sleep Number mark in their sponsored ad would cause relevant consumers to believe that the personalcomfortbed.com ad is sponsored by Select Comfort.
Defendant Dires retained AMS survey expert Dr. Geoffrey Fong, and introduced survey evidence that Dires’ use of the Sleep Number mark in their sponsored ad was not likely to cause confusion as to source or affiliation with Select Comfort. At trial in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, Dr. Fong testified that the results of his survey demonstrate that respondents from the relevant universe were able to accurately distinguish between internet advertisements that were truly sponsored by Select Comfort and those that were not. The jury agreed, and rendered a verdict in favor of the defendant, specifically that Dires did not infringe on Select Comfort’s trademark rights.
If you would like to learn more about this case, Dr. Geoffrey Fong, or AMS, please contact Jason Och at (781) 250-6317.
