Amazon sued over Ill. couple's flag sales

Good Sports Inc., a Connecticut clothing company, sued two Amazon.com affiliate merchants for copyright infringement.

The suit related to flags Angela & John Nohl of Mount Carmel, Illinois, are accused of selling through Amazon.com. Good Sports claims that as “Knife Kingdom,” the pair is selling a flag that infringes their patriotic “All Gave Some” design.

Good Sports said it placed the design on T-shirts, jackets, sweatshirts, flags and other items. The design features an American eagle bearing in its talons two banners printed with the message “All gave some. Some gave all.” One of the eagle's wings is colored like an American flag and the other bears the POW-MIA banner that honors U.S. military prisoners of war and those missing in action. Good Sports registered the design with the U.S. Copyright Office in November 2004.

Included in the case filing is a screen shot of an Amazon.com page showing a flag with a similar design sold by the affiliate merchant Knife-Kingdom.

The Connecticut sporting goods company said it didn't authorize the Nohls to use the design and that it has “lost and will continue to lose substantial revenue” to the sale of the infringing merchandise. The sale of the copycat item has diluted the distinctive quality of the design, the company said in the complaint filed Nov. 9 in federal court in New Haven, Connecticut.

The company asked the court for an order barring future infringement of its design, and the seizure and destruction of all infringing products and promotional materials. Additionally, Good Sports requested money damages, attorney fees, litigation costs, and the profits the Nohls derived from their alleged infringement.

Good Sports is represented by Mario G. Ceste of the Law Offices of Mario G. Ceste of Wallingford, Connecticut.

The case is Good Sports Inc. v. Angela Nohl, 3:10-cv-01758- SRU, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut (New Haven).