Today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc., which asks the Court to determine whether an award of defendant’s profits for trademark infringement under the Lanham Act can include profits from legally separate non-party corporate affiliates. Much of the day’s questioning revolved around whether the $43 million profits award affirmed by the Fourth Circuit was authorized under the just sum provision of 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a) given the circuit court’s scant consideration of equitable considerations and the unique facts of the case, in which the defendant property management firm claimed 30 years of losses and the entire profits award was calculated from revenues held by affiliated real estate holding entities having the same sole owner as the defendant.

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