September 18, 2019
Authored and Edited by B. Brett Heavner; Margaret A. Esquenet
USA-Halal Chamber of Commerce (“USA-Halal”) certifies meat and poultry products that have been slaughtered and prepared in accordance with Islamic law—a process known as “halal.” Products that have met USA-Halal’s standards may be labeled with the certification mark shown below (the “Halal Crescent Moon”):
USA-Halal owns an incontestable U.S. registration for the Halal Crescent Moon.
In 2015, Best Choice Meats, Inc. (“Best Choice”) was certified by USA-Halal and licensed to use the Halal Crescent Moon on its meat and poultry products. Under the license agreement, Best Choice was to provide monthly production reports to USA-Halal in order to maintain the certification. Three years later, Best Choice ceased providing these production reports to USA-Halal which resulted in the termination of the license to use the Halal Crescent Moon in September 2018. After termination of the license, Best Choice represented to USA-Halal that it had destroyed its certificate issued by USA-Halal and was not using the Halal Crescent Moon on its products and promotional materials.
In May 2019, USA-Halal discovered that Best Choice was still displaying the allegedly destroyed certificate bearing the Halal Crescent Moon on its web site. Further, Best Choice was displaying the following mark on packaging for its meat and poultry products (the “Best Choice Moon”):
USA-Halal immediately demanded that Best Choice cease using the certificate with the Halal Crescent Moon on its web site and cease using the nearly identical Best Choice Moon on its packaging. In response, Best Choice removed the cancelled certificate from its web site but failed to remove the Best Choice Moon from its packaging. Two months later USA-Halal sued Best Choice and moved for a preliminary injunction to prevent Best Choice’s continued use of the Halal Crescent Moon and the Best Choice Moon.
The Parties’ Positions
USA-Halal argued that it was entitled to a preliminary injunction based on the following factors:
Best Choice argued that no preliminary injunction should issue based on the following factors:
The Court’s Holding
The Court ultimately decided to issue the preliminary injunction requiring Best Choice to cease using both the Halal Crescent Moon and the Best Choice Moon based on the following findings:
The case is USA-Halal Chamber of Commerce Inc. v. Best Choice Meats Inc., Case No. 1:19 C4693 (N.D. Ill. August 14, 2019).
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