## Facts

- Eva Sweis opened a Chicago bridal shop in 1966 under the name “Eva’s Bridal” and later permitted family members to open shops using the same name.
- The business and trademark rights were operated by Said and Nancy Ghusein through Eva’s Bridal Ltd., continuing to license the name to relatives.
- Said and Nancy sold the Orland Park “Eva’s Bridal” shop to Nayef Ghusein for $10, coupled with a written agreement requiring $75,000 annual payments for the right to use the “Eva’s Bridal” name and marks.
- The license expired in 2002, but Nayef Ghusein and Halanick Enterprises continued operating the store under the “Eva’s Bridal” name without paying royalties.
- The written license did not impose operational requirements on the licensee and did not grant the licensor supervision rights over how the store was run or how the mark was used.
- In deposition, Nancy Ghusein conceded that she and Said never attempted to control any aspect of defendants’ operations or use of the mark.
- In 2007, plaintiffs sued under the Lanham Act alleging unlawful use of the mark after the license expired.

## Issues

1. Whether plaintiffs abandoned the “Eva’s Bridal” trademark through naked licensing by allowing use of the mark without reasonable control over the nature and quality of the goods, services, or business associated with the mark.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of the Lanham Act claims.
- The court held that plaintiffs engaged in naked licensing because they neither retained contractual quality-control authority nor exercised actual supervision over defendants’ use of the mark.
- Because naked licensing constitutes abandonment, plaintiffs could not enforce the mark against defendants’ continued use.

## Legal Principles

- A trademark may be abandoned when the owner licenses it without exercising reasonable control over the nature and quality of the goods, services, or business offered under the mark (naked licensing).
- Quality control in trademark licensing concerns consistency of the user’s offering associated with the mark, not whether the offering is subjectively “high quality.”
- Subjective trust in a licensee or reliance on the reputations of third-party designers does not substitute for retained legal authority and actual or enforceable mechanisms of oversight.
- Abandonment by naked licensing eliminates the owner’s ability to obtain Lanham Act relief for alleged infringement of the abandoned mark.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that plaintiffs relinquished both contractual and practical control over how the “Eva’s Bridal” mark was used, resulting in naked licensing and abandonment, which barred their infringement claims arising from defendants’ continued use after the license expired.


Eva’s Bridal Ltd. v. Halanick Enters., Inc., 639 F.3d 788 (7th Cir. 2011)