Halton

ORDER GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Before the Court is defendants Teresa Halton and Peter Halton’s (“Defendants”) Motion to Dismiss the Complaint or, in the Alternative Motion for Summary Judgment. This motion requires the Court to consider whether plaintiff Gary Fong, Inc.’s (“Plaintiff’) Complaint is barred by the doctrine of res judicata. The Court hereby GRANTS Defendants’ motion for summary judgment because Plaintiff should have raised the current causes of action for false designation of origin and common law trademark infringement with respect to the domain name “storybook.com” in a previously litigated action.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff filed its Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) in a prior action, Gary Fong, Inc. v. Teresa C. Halton and Peter C. Halton, CV 98-9034 ABC and CV 98-7769 ABC, on March 28, 2000 in the Central District of California. The SAC asserted the following claims against Defendant Teresa Halton:

Plaintiff also asserted the Lanham Act claim against Defendant Peter Halton. This previous suit dealt with both Defendants’ alleged infringement of Plaintiffs service mark, “Storybook Studio.” The parties submitted a joint pretrial order on June 29, 2000. The…