Bit Parts

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida that the members in Expos' when the music act released its first successful album in 1986 were the common law owners of the rights to the “Expos'” name. Crystal Entertainment and Filmworks Inc. v. Jurado, 10-11837. Expos' was started by Pandera Productions in 1984 with three members who by 1986 were replaced with Ann Curless, Gioia Bruno and Jeanette Jurado. The latter three were featured on the debut Expos' album, which sold three million copies. Plaintiff Crystal Entertainment is Pandera's claimed successor in interest to the purported rights in the Expos' name. The district and appeals courts did find that Curless, Bruno and Garcia breached a 2006 agreement to pay Crystal Entertainment 10% of the gross income from Expos' concerts and merchandise. But on the trademark issue, the appeals court concluded, as did the trial court, that “Jurado, Curless, and Bruno controlled the qualities and characteristics that the public associates with the Expos' mark.”