Home Builders Association of Greater St. Louis v. L & L Exhibition Management, Inc.

UnknownHBA is a nonprofit organization representing the home-building industry in
metropolitan St. Louis. HBA members build homes; associate members supply goods
and services to home builders. HBA has sponsored home and garden shows in the
greater St. Louis area for more than forty years. Since 1981, HBA has held two shows
each year, one in the spring called “The St. Louis Builders Home and Garden Show,”
the other in the fall called “The St. Louis Builders Home and Remodeling Show.” The
HBA shows are held at the St. Louis Convention Center. The spring show, the largest
of its kind in the United States, uses up to 419,000 square feet for more than 500
exhibits. The 1998 spring show drew 60,000 visitors.

L&L is a recently-started Minnesota company that promotes home shows across
the country. In 1994, 1995, and 1996, L&L started its first four shows in Minnesota,
Colorado, and Indiana. In May 1997, after extensive market research, L&L sponsored
its first home show in St. Louis. As it has in other markets, L&L sought to piggyback
on the success of the well-established HBA shows. L&L called its show “The Home
Improvement & Building Show,” a name quite similar to the name of HBA’s spring
show. L&L marketed its new show as “The St. Louis Home Show,” or simply “The
Home Show,” names that HBA had used in the past and that St. Louis consumers had
come to associate with HBA shows. Like the HBA shows, L&L’s show was held at
the Convention Center, and its advertising suggested it would be a large show.
However, by HBA standards, the 1997 L&L show was small, using 80,000 square feet
for less than 100 exhibits.

Responding to complaints from visitors who attended L&L’s first show thinking
it was the more substantial HBA event, Convention Center officials told L&L that advertising for any future shows would have to identify L&L as the sponsor to prevent
public confusion. L&L promoted two more St. Louis shows in January and May 1998.
Advertising for these shows identified L&L as the event’s sponsor, but only in small
print in the written ads, and once very quickly at the end of the television and radio ads.
Some visitors to the January 1998 show testified that they attended under the mistaken
belief it was an HBA event.

HBA filed this complaint in September 1997, alleging unfair competition and
trade dress infringement in violation of § 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C.
§ 1125(a), and Missouri common law. After a four-day trial, the district court found
that HBA’s home shows have acquired secondary meaning in the St. Louis market, that
L&L’s advertising and promotion of its competing shows have confused consumers and
building industry exhibitors, and that L&L intentionally created this confusion, as it has
done in entering other metropolitan markets, “to trade on the name and goodwill of the
pre-existing and well-established show.” Based upon these findings, the district court
concluded that L&L had violated § 43(a) by engaging in unfair competition. The court
entered an injunction ordering L&L (a) to market its St. Louis shows under their full
and official names; (b) to print each word of the full name in the same font style and
size in all print advertising ; (c) not to market any show as “The Home Show” or “The
St. Louis Home Show”; (d) to identify L&L as the show’s sponsor in all advertising;
and (e) to include the following disclaimer in all advertising: “This is not the St. Louis
Home and Garden Show or the St. Louis Builder’s Home & Remodeling Show
sponsored by the Home Builder’s Association of Greater St. Louis.” The court further
awarded HBA $25,000 in damages plus costs and a reasonable attorney’s fee. This
appeal followed.

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Court's opinion.

Affirmed.

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