最近更新：2025-03-09
2024-cv-12867
| 日期 | 描述 |
|---|---|
| 03/05/2025 | MINUTE entry before the Honorable Sunil R. Harjani: The Court has reviewed the plaintiff's memorandum on joinder [16] and determines, within its discretion, that plaintiff has failed to satisfy its burden to show that joinder of 70 defendants is proper in this matter under Fed. R. Civ. P. 20(a)(2). See Estee Lauder Cosms. Ltd. v. P'ships & Unincorporated Ass'ns Identified on Schedule A, 334 F.R.D. 182, 185 (N.D. Ill. 2020) (noting that "[plaintiff] bears the burden of demonstrating that joinder is proper"). The Court observes that plaintiff's memorandum includes a fair amount of conclusory language about a logical relationship and coordinated actions among all defendants but not much, if any, facts to actually support that relationship. Beyond alleging that the 70 defendants are infringing upon plaintiff's design patent, plaintiff claims generally that joinder is proper because, inter alia, defendants "are selling the same counterfeit goods, from the same source, utilizing the same images, descriptions, logistics, all within the same geographic region." Doc. 16 at 11 (citing Gulbransen Supp. Decl. ¶ ¶ 4-8). As support, plaintiff attaches an exhibit showing the listing of the counterfeit plaintiff's goods offered wholesale on the 1688.com site, which is wholly owned by Alibaba and is a Chinese domestic wholesale website. Doc. 16-1 ¶ 4; Doc. 16-2. From this wholesale listing, plaintiff concludes that it "has linked the counterfeit products to the Chinese wholesale website, 1688.com, and specifically to one manufacturer," which "appears to be the common source of all Defendants' counterfeit goods in China." Doc. 16-1 at 9. As a factual matter, plaintiff's conclusion does not follow from the 1688.com counterfeit wholesale listing. It may be that defendants purchase the counterfeit goods from a source other than 1688.com. And even if the counterfeit products are originating "from the same manufacturer in the same market in the same location in China," as plaintiff alleges, this reveals little about a relationship between all 70 defendants. Id; Viking Arm AS v. P'ships and Unincorporated Ass'ns Identified on Schedule A, 2024 WL 2953105, at *3 (N.D. Ill. June 6, 2024) (the fact that "defendants likely use the same manufacturer to procure certain parts. [is a] coincidentally identical fact[] that reflect[s] the way these internet webstores tend to operate, not that all defendants are part of a network of infringers.") (internal quotes and citation omitted). Next, plaintiff claims "many of the listings show the same images or text in the listing, as well as other common characteristics, across listings and for different sellers, which suggests they are coordinating aspects of the product marketing." Doc. 16-1, ¶ 7. But plaintiff provides no specific examples of such shared images or text or "other common characteristics" across listings and instead the record contains Exhibit 2 to the Declaration of Liv Mezbizer (which includes 244 pages of screenshots from defendants' listings) without providing the Court with specific additional information from those listings that might in fact support joinder in this matter. See Docs. 8, 8-1. It is not this Court's job to sift through hundreds of pages of materials to look for a relationship between the defendants. Moreover, "defendants with nearly identical product descriptions may in fact share no ties, with each simply copying the same description from elsewhere." Estee Lauder Cosms. Ltd., et al. v. The P'ships, et al., No. 20-cv-00845 (N.D. Ill. June 22, 2020) (Lee, J.) (Doc. 40 at 9); see also Estee Lauder, 334 F.R.D. at 188. Within its discretion, on this record, the Court finds that plaintiff has failed to meet its burden to show that joining all 70 defendants in this single lawsuit is proper here. See Viking Arm AS, 2024 WL 2953105, at *3 (finding misjoinder in case with 181 defendants); Art Ask Agency v. Individuals, Corps., Ltd. Liab. Cos., P'ships & Unincorporated Ass'ns Identified on Schedule "A", 2021 WL 5493226, at *2 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 23, 2021) (same for 216 defendants); H-D U.S.A. v. P'ships & Unincorporated Ass'ns Identified on Schedule "A", 2021 WL 780486, at *3 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 1, 2021) (same for 198 defendants). Accordingly, plaintiff's motion for temporary restraining order [6] and motion to exceed page limitation [9] are denied without prejudice. Plaintiff's motions for leave to temporarily seal documents [5, 10] are granted. Plaintiff is granted leave to file an amended complaint with one defendant by 3/12/2025. H-D U.S.A., 2021 WL 780486, at *2 ("The Seventh Circuit has recognized the broad discretion that district courts have in remedying misjoinder, so long as the court's decision avoids unnecessary harm to the parties."). Mailed notice |
| 01/26/2025 | STATUS Report by Honeyera LLC |
| 01/23/2025 | Supplemental Memorandum in Support of Joinder by Honeyera LLC 附件： 1:Exhibit Exhibit 6 2:Exhibit Exhibit 5 3:Exhibit Exhibit 3 4:Exhibit Exhibit 4 5:Exhibit Exhibit 2 6:Declaration Declaration of David Gulbransen 7:Exhibit Exhibit 1 |
| 01/23/2025 | MINUTE entry before the Honorable Sunil R. Harjani: Plaintiff did not file the supplemental joinder memorandum due by 1/22/2025. See Doc. 14. By 1/27/2025, plaintiff shall file a status report with an update on the case. Mailed notice |
| 01/10/2025 | MINUTE entry before the Honorable Sunil R. Harjani: Plaintiff's motion for extension of time to file supplemental joinder memorandum [13] is granted. By 1/22/2025, plaintiff shall file a supplemental memorandum addressing the propriety of joinder in light of the principles described in Estee Lauder. In the alternative, plaintiff has leave to file an amended complaint with a smaller subset of defendants along with its memorandum explaining specifically why each defendant is properly joined to all of the others. Mailed notice |
| 01/09/2025 | MOTION by Plaintiff Honeyera LLC for extension of time to file Memorandum in Support of Joinder |
| 12/27/2024 | ANNUAL REMINDER: Pursuant to Local Rule 3.2 (Notification of Affiliates), any nongovernmental party, other than an individual or sole proprietorship, must file a statement identifying all its affiliates known to the party after diligent review or, if the party has identified no affiliates, then a statement reflecting that fact must be filed. An affiliate is defined as follows: any entity or individual owning, directly or indirectly (through ownership of one or more other entities), 5% or more of a party. The statement is to be electronically filed as a PDF in conjunction with entering the affiliates in CM/ECF as prompted. As a reminder to counsel, parties must supplement their statements of affiliates within thirty (30) days of any change in the information previously reported. This minute order is being issued to all counsel of record to remind counsel of their obligation to provide updated information as to additional affiliates if such updating is necessary. If counsel has any questions regarding this process, this LINK will provide additional information. Signed by the Honorable Virginia M. Kendall on 12/27/2024: Mailed notice. |
| 12/26/2024 | MINUTE entry before the Honorable Sunil R. Harjani: Plaintiff's motion for leave to file under seal [5], plaintiff's motion for temporary restraining order [6], plaintiff's motion to exceed page limitation [9] are entered and continued. Upon review of the complaint and the TRO submissions, the Court sua sponte raises the proprietary of joinder of 70 defendants in this case. See, e.g., Estee Lauder Cosmetics Ltd. v. Schedule A, 334 F.R.D. 182 (N.D. Ill. 2020). By 1/8/2025, plaintiff shall file a supplemental memorandum addressing the propriety of joinder in light of the principles described in Estee Lauder. In the alternative, plaintiff has leave to file an amended complaint with a smaller subset of defendants along with its memorandum explaining specifically why each defendant is properly joined to all of the others. Estee Lauder, 334 F.R.D. at 189. Emailed notice |
| 12/23/2024 | MOTION by Plaintiff Honeyera LLC to seal document sealed document[8], sealed document[2] |
| 12/23/2024 | MOTION by Plaintiff Honeyera LLC for leave to file excess pages |
| 12/23/2024 | SEALED DOCUMENT by Plaintiff Honeyera LLC Exhibit 2 to Declaration of Plaintiff 附件： 1:(Exhibit Exhibit 2 (Part 2 of 2)) |
| 12/23/2024 | MEMORANDUM by Honeyera LLC in support of motion for temporary restraining order[6] 附件： 1:Exhibit Exhibit 1 to Declaration of Plaintiff 2:Declaration Declaration of David Gulbransen 3:Declaration Declaration of Plaintiff |
| 12/23/2024 | MOTION by Plaintiff Honeyera LLC for temporary restraining order |
| 12/16/2024 | CASE ASSIGNED to the Honorable Sunil R. Harjani. Designated as Magistrate Judge the Honorable Jeffrey T. Gilbert. Case assignment: Random assignment. (Civil Category 1). |
| 12/16/2024 | MOTION by Plaintiff Honeyera LLC to seal document sealed document[2] |
| 12/16/2024 | ATTORNEY Appearance for Plaintiff Honeyera LLC by David Lee Gulbransen, Jr |
| 12/16/2024 | CIVIL Cover Sheet |
| 12/16/2024 | SEALED DOCUMENT by Plaintiff Honeyera LLC Schedule A to Complaint |
| 12/16/2024 | COMPLAINT filed by Honeyera LLC; Filing fee $ 405, receipt number AILNDC-22846094. 附件： 1:Exhibit Exhibit 1 |
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