Case Information
*1 United States District Court Southern District of Texas ENTERED May 13, 2021 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT Nathan Ochsner, Clerk FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS HOUSTON DIVISION
HOUSTON CIGAR ALLIANCE, §
§
Plaintiff, §
§ VS. § CIVIL ACTION NO. H-20-4115
§
OFFICIAL HOUSTON CIGAR §
WEEK LLC, et al. , §
§
§
Defendants. §
ORDER
Houston Cigar Alliance filed a motion for contempt, alleging that Official Houston Cigar Week and Elias Papillion violated this court’s April 21 preliminary injunction by naming their cigar event “Texas Cigar Week.” (Docket Entry No. 61). Given the short time between this event and the Alliance’s event, the shared location in Houston, the nearly identical targeted audience, and the advertisement used by the defendants, which included advertising their event as “Texas Cigar Week Houston,” the court finds that the defendants’ event title is confusingly similar to the Alliance’s “Houston Cigar Week.” The court also finds that the defendants chose “Texas Cigar Week” in a deliberate attempt to circumvent this court’s injunction.
If the defendants go forward with their Texas Cigar Week event, they must segregate all revenue from the event and place it into an interest-bearing account, until the court can determine whether the revenue, or some portion of it, must be disgorged.
The court also orders Papillion to deactivate the following social-media accounts by 5:00 p.m. (CT) on May 12, 2021:
o Facebook.com/htowncigarweek
o Facebook.com/officialhoustoncigarweek
o The Houston Cigar Week/Texas Cigar Week group
o Texascigarweek
o Texascigarweek_
o Texascigar_week
o Texascigarweekllc
• TikTok
o Texascigarweek
• Other Websites
o Houstoncigarweek-llc.square.site
o Linktr.ee/houstoncigarweek By 5:00 p.m. (CT) on May 12, 2021, Papillion must remove all posts and content that reference Houston Cigar Week and Texas Cigar Week from the following social-media accounts:
•
o Elias Papillion’s personal account
o Stixx and Stonez
o smokeyeli
o richpapillion Stixx_and_stonez Other websites *3 houstoncigarfestival.com The defendants must download, or otherwise preserve, the existing posts and content on these social-media pages. The defendants must track the steps they take to comply with this order and certify to the court and the Alliance that they have complied fully with this order.
SIGNED on May 11, 2021, at Houston, Texas.
_______________________________ Lee H. Rosenthal Chief United States District Judge