June 2012 Breach of Contract Reversal

On appeal to the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston, The Vethan Law Firm, PC (VLF) successfully reversed a trial court judgment of more than $335,000 for breach of a contract against our client, a limited partner in a registered Texas Limited Partnership.  The plaintiffs in the case, another limited partner and the limited partnership itself alleged that because our client terminated a personal guarantee on a $1 million construction loan to develop an apartment complex, which he did not believe had sufficient due diligence, he somehow violated contractual obligations to the limited partnership and the other limited partners. The Jury found that he breached the contract. VLF’s attorneys examined the evidence presented at trial and disagreed.

VLF undertook the appeal of the case and was successful in reversing the breach of contract claim and the attorney’s fees of over $170,000 assessed against our client at the trial court level. This case demonstrates that no matter how careful a business person may be, business deals and obligations must be carefully and precisely reduced to writing to avoid even the threat of litigation.

VLF is proud to have set the record straight for our clients.

VETHAN LAW FIRM 

Contact Us:
(713) 526-2222

Nov 2011 Angry Birds gets Thrown

ANGRY BRIDS US TRADEMARKS & COPYRIGHTS

The United States licensee for the wildly popular Angry Birds products, created by Rovio Mobile Ltd, sued VLF's client, a stuffed toy manufacturer based in Houston, Texas that makes and sells mascots for various corporations and colleges throughout the Southwestern United States. Rovio alleged that some of our client’s products violated the Angry Birds US trademarks and copyrights, and sought damages well into the millions of dollars.

After aggressively litigating the case, VLF proved to a United States Federal District Court judge that Angry Bird had obtained its US trademarks and copyrights at a later time than when the alleged infringement occurred. As such, most of Angry Bird's damages claims were drastically reduced, and VLF obtained a very favorable settlement of the case.

VLF continues to represent its clients in the most contentious trademark and copyright matters filed in the United States Federal District Courts in Texas.

VETHAN LAW FIRM  

Contact Us:
(713) 526-2222

 

Big News! Vethan Law Firm Successfully defends Business in Trademark Case!

Big News!!!!

In a recent trademark case, the Vethan Law Firm successfully defended a company’s general manager in a lawsuit where the manager was accused by a competitor of unfair competition and fraudulently obtaining a trademark.  Despite the Competitors’ use of seven attorneys at trial, (including two law firm partners), the competitor’s claims of wrongdoing against the Vethan Law Firm’s client were dismissed by a Federal Judge before the claims made it to the jury.  The competitor had claimed over $800,000.00 against the VLF client in attorney fees.  The Federal Judge denied the competitor’s enormous claim, finding the case “unexceptional” and refusing to award the competitor any fees. 

“They challenged our client’s integrity, and they lost.”  said Charles Vethan, managing partner of the Vethan Law Firm.  The amount of liability sought against the VLF client was over four times the competitor’s original estimate.  “We were able to use the opposing party’s own statement against them. You can’t request an award of nearly a million dollars when you have previously said the amount would be around $150,000.00.  We proved our client had done nothing wrong, so there was no way the opposing party was going to get a money judgment.  The fact that the amount requested had grown out of control could not have helped.”  

VETHAN LAW FIRM

Contact Us:
(713) 526-2222