On Friday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, home health care agency CHPH Agency Inc. filed a complaint alleging trademark infringement against Medi-Home Health Care Agency Company and a subsidiary.
CHPH owner Ikishia Jackson is also the owner of trademark No. 6,123,756, first circulated in commerce on or before April 28, 2017, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, according to the complaint. The trademarked image is composed of three stick figures directly above the stylized letters “CHPH,” with a heart overlapping with a roof and chimney behind the figures. The plaintiff claimed that the defendants use a “confusingly similar” mark in commerce, also consisting of a heart above a roof and chimney and three stick figures. Copies of both the plaintiff’s mark and the defendants’ allegedly infringing mark, as shown in the complaint, are provided below:
CHPH sent two notices to the defendants — the first on Dec. 17, 2020, and the second on Jan. 13 — to notify them of the alleged infringement. According to CHPH, the defendants continued to use the mark on billboards after both notices.
“Plaintiff has received comments by people who were actually confused about whether Defendants’ Mark was referring to services provided by Plaintiff,” the complaint asserted.
According to the complaint, given that the plaintiff and defendants are direct competitors in the Philadelphia home health care agency market, “consumers are likely to assume (mistakenly) that the services come from a common source.”
CHPH argued that the defendants’ alleged conduct has resulted in “substantial damages” of lost revenue and “the continuing loss of the goodwill and reputation established by Plaintiff” in its mark and said it will continue to suffer harm if the court does not enjoin the defendants from continuing its alleged actions.
In addition to enjoinment of the defendants, the plaintiff requested that the defendants provide for destruction all content that uses the alleged infringing mark that currently is in their possession and an account of all profits made as a result of using the alleged infringing mark, among other relief. CHPH is represented by Salmon, Ricchezza, Singer & Tuchi LLP.
