Flair Airlines, Ltd. v. Gregor LLC, No. 18 C 2023, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jan. 17, 2019) (Guzman, J.).

Judge Guzman denied plaintiff’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss certain of defendants’ counterclaims in this case involving Lanham Act trademark infringement and deceptive trade practices, copyright and related state law claims.

Of particular note, the Court held as follows:

  • Defendants’ breach of contract claim were sufficiently pled because they identified parties to the alleged joint venture. Open-ended references to additional identified members did not doom the claims, but no unnamed parties would be included in any future judgment.
  • Regarding the account stated claims, unidentified amounts would not be recoverable without evidence that the amounts were properly “stated.”

Defendants’ claims that plaintiff asserted ownership over the alleged copyrighted materials – route schedules, reservation system and website, a booking engine and website, airline seat forecasting templates, reservation manuals, and call center manuals – were sufficient for defendants’ declaratory judgment claim of copyright ownership. Furthermore, disputes over whether the works at issue were works for hire are not resolvable at the Rule 12(b) stage.