Federal Circuits, Eleventh Circuit (July 22, 1999)
Docket number: 98-2387
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Id. vLex: VLEX-37795714
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U.S. Supreme Court - United States v. United Shoe Machinery Corp., 391 U.S. 244 (1968)
U.S. Supreme Court - United States v. Swift & Co., 286 U.S. 106 (1932)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit - Burger King Corporation, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Pilgrim'S Pride Corporation, Defendant-Appellant. Pilgrim'S Pride Corporation, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Burger King Corporation, Defendant-Appellee., 15 F.3d 166 (11th Cir. 1994) Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Pilgrim'S Pride Corporation, Defendant-Appellant. Pilgrim'S Pride Corporation, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Burger King Corporation, Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. No. 92-744-Civ-T-17C, Elizabeth A. Jenkins, U.S. Magistrate Judge.
Before ANDERSON, Chief Judge, BLACK, Circuit Judge, and STAFFORD1, Senior District Judge.BLACK, Circuit Judge:Appellants Condec, Inc. and Condec President Frank Souliere (collectively Condec) appeal the trial court's modification of a permanent injunction after this Court's mandate set aside a portion of the original injunction. Appellants claim the trial court abused its discretion by granting Appellee's motion for modification and argue that even if the court had the discretion to modify, the ordered modification was overbroad. We conclude the trial court had the discretion to modify the injunction and did not abuse that discretion, and therefore affirm.I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUNDAppellee Epic Metals Corp. (Epic) sued Condec in June 1992, alleging that Condec's CONDEC steel decking product was a Lanham Act trade dress infringement of Epic's EPICORE steel decking product and that Condec had infringed Epic's Copyright in EPICORE catalogs and promotional materials. After a bench trial, the trial court found in Epic's favor, ruling that Condec had infringed Epic's copyrighted catalog and trade dress.2 The court awarded statutory damages for the copyright claims, as well as several thousand dollars in damages for the trade dress infringement claim, reserving jurisdiction over injunctive relief. On June 9, 1995, the trial judge signed a two-paragraph final order of permanent injunctive relief, forbidding Condec from reproducing or copying Epic's catalog materials and from "[m]anufacturing, distributing, selling, or offering for sale any composite steel floor deck utilizing the dovetail rib profile of the plaintiff, EPIC METALS CORPORATION ... or any other dovetail rib profile."A three-judge panel of this Court upheld the finding of copyright violation without discussion, but reversed the trade dress infringement finding. Epic Metals Corp. v. Souliere, 99 F.3d 1034, 1042 (11th Cir.1996) (Epic Metals I ).3 On remand from this Court, the trial court struck the paragraph of the injunction that forbade Condec from manufacturing steel decking with a dovetail rib profile, freeing Condec to resume the manufacture and sale of its CONDEC product. The paragraph of the injunction forbidding future copyright violations remained in effect.Shortly thereafter, Epic filed a "Motion to Modify Permanent Injunction in Light of Appellate Court Mandate." In that motion, Epic sought to prevent Condec from holding out to the public that CONDEC has a Underwriter's Laboratory (UL) fire rating until the product's fire resistance is independently tested. Among the trial court's original findings on the copyright infringement issue, the court determined that Condec infringed Epic's copyright in its EPICORE Concept 1 catalog and EPICORE Concept 2 catalog when Condec copied the section properties and load tables from the EPICORE catalogs and submitted them to UL as the section properties and load tables of its own product.4 UL approved certification for CONDEC without requiring fire resistance testing based on the conclusion that the load tables for CONDEC matched the already-approved load tables of EPICORE. The trial court found Condec's use of the copyrighted materials enabled it to avoid the cost of fire testing, which could have been as high as $70,000 to $80,000. The trial court also found UL certification is essential because most building codes, especially for commercial properties or multi-unit residential complexes, require steel decking products be UL-certified.Because the injunction as modified by this Court's mandate allowed Condec to resume manufacture of its product, Epic's motion asked the court to prevent Condec from "benefit[ing] from the fruits of their willful copyright infringement" by enjoining Condec from representing to others that its product has a UL fire rating until CONDEC is independently tested. Treatingthe motion as a Rule 60(b)(6) motion for post-judgment relief, the trial court first determined that it had jurisdiction to modify the permanent injunction, noting "although this court is bound to follow the express and implied holdings of the appellate court, it is on remand 'free to address, as a matter of first impression, those issues not disposed of on appeal,' " (citing Piambino v. Bailey, 757 F.2d 1112, 1119 (11th Cir.1985) and others). The trial court concluded that "[i]f defendants are permitted to use the UL rating they obtained through infringement, the original purpose of the injunction would not be fulfilled," and granted the relief requested.5II. DISCUSSIONCondec appeals, asserting that the court abused its discretion in modifying the injunction because Epic did not make an appropriate showing to justify modification and this Court's mandate precludes modification. Alternatively, Condec argues the language of the newly-modified injunction is beyond the scope of the remedies provided for by copyright law.A.Authority to ModifyUpon appellate review, "[m]otions for relief from a final judgment are addressed to the sound discretion of the district court, guided of course by accepted legal principles." Hand v. United States,Try vLex for FREE for 3 days
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