Progressive Lawn Managers, Inc. v. Lawn Managers, Inc.

Whether in a trademark infringement case in which it is necessary for the federal court to construe state-court divorce orders governing the rights and obligations of the parties relevant to unclean hands and where there are ongoing parallel state-court proceedings involving enforcement of those same orders, the federal court may disregard the state-court constructions of the divorce orders and contradictorily construe such orders on the sole basis that the federal case is a “trademark infringement action in federal court.”

Whether in the situation where the licensor of a mark purposefully allows the licensee to use the mark to deceive the public into thinking the licensee is the licensor and the licensor retains and exercises no control over the quality of services provided under the mark, the finding of mark abandonment compelled by the Lanham Act may be avoided solely on the basis of a prior relationship between the licensor and licensee, even where that relationship turns hostile before and during the license period.