CPC International, Inc. V. Skippy Incorporated and Joan Crosby Tibbetts (4Th Cir.)
PUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT CPC INTERNATIONAL, INCORPORATED, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SKIPPY INCORPORATED; JOAN CROSBY No. 99-2318 TIBBETTS, Defendants-Appellants. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF VIRGINIA, INCORPORATED, Amicus Curiae. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Richard L. Williams, Senior District Judge. (CA-86-109-1-A) Argued: April 5, 2000 Decided: June 2, 2000 Before WILKINSON, Chief Judge, and WILKINS and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges. _________________________________________________________________ Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Chief Judge Wilkinson wrote the opinion, in which Judge Wilkins and Judge Williams joined. _________________________________________________________________ COUNSEL ARGUED: Rodney Ray Sweetland, III, Arlington, Virginia, for Appellants. William Mack Webner, SUGHRUE, MION, ZINN, MACPEAK & SEAS, P.L.L.C., Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Dov Szego, Williamsburg, Virginia; Rebecca K. Glenberg, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF VIRGINIA FOUNDA- TION, Richmond, Virginia, for Amicus Curiae. _________________________________________________________________ OPINION WILKINSON, Chief Judge: This case involves a protracted dispute over the use of the trade- mark SKIPPY. In 1986, CPC International, the maker of Skippy Pea- nut Butter, brought suit against Skippy, Incorporated, for trademark infringement and unfair competition. The district court enjoined Skippy from communicating that CPC has no rights in the trademark SKIPPY for food products. In 1998, Skippy created the web site Skip- py.com. CPC alleged that the web site violated the 1986 order, and the district court ordered Skippy to remove about ten pages of mate- rial from its web site. Because the district court's injunction lacks the findings and specificity required by Fed.
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