Emphasizing the lack of relationship between the parties, the United States Department of Labor is suing Global Occupational Safety and Health Academy LLC (Global OSHA) for alleged trademark infringement, pointing out the similarity of the defendant’s moniker to that of the labor department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
In its Tuesday complaint, the U.S. said that, since the 1970s, the names “Occupational Safety and Health Administration” and “OSHA” have been “uniquely associated” with the Department of Labor. Touting OSHA’s workplace standards, the complaint claimed that “OSHA is recognized as a national and international authority on occupational safety and health.” OSHA owns the registrations for the trademarks “OSHA” and “OSHA Training Institute Education Centers,” Registration Nos. 3305165 and 5356959, respectively, according to the complaint.
“As a result of the extensive use by OSHA of the names ‘Occupational Safety and Health Administration,’ ‘OSHA,’ and its distinctive logo, as well as media attention and publicity, the names and logo have acquired incalculable fame, goodwill and value, and are recognized throughout the United States as being uniquely and unmistakably associated with the Department of Labor and OSHA.”
The U.S. asserted that the defendant’s name and acronym are “confusingly similar” to OSHA’s designation — so much so that the “OSHA” in Global OSHA’s title “falsely implies sponsorship” by the U.S.’s OSHA, according to the plaintiff. The U.S. claimed that the inscrutability is comprehensive, down to the style of each party’s logo.
Despite the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board finding in December 2020 that the defendant’s logo “did not uniquely and unmistakably point to OSHA,” the U.S. argued otherwise, claiming that the defendant’s logo and name are “likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive the public to the public’s damage and to the damage of OSHA.” The plaintiff additionally asserted that the defendant had a calculated intention to use the ethos associated with the government’s OSHA to inflate its own reputation.
The U.S. sued under the Lanham Act for alleged trademark infringement of registered marks, common law trademark infringement, and dilution. The plaintiff requested injunctive relief enjoining the defendant from continuing its alleged infringing conduct.
The Department of Justice is representing the plaintiff.
