SiriusXM Files Answer In 'UrgentGram' Direct Mail Copyright Infringement Case

Design Dispute

SIRIUSXM RADIO has answered a complaint filed by direct marketing agency CHAPMAN CUBINE ADAMS + HUSSEY that the satellite radio service violated the firm's copyright by using without permission an "UrgentGram" design for direct mail marketing circulars developed by the agency.

In the answer, SIRIUSXM denies or says it is "without knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations of" most of the complaint, and says it is "not aware of any 'instances of actual confusion.'"  It also says that it is "investigating the allegation that SIRIUS XM 'had access to the UrgentGram Design'" and that the Plaintiff "does not own, does not possess, is not an exclusive licensee of, and/or otherwise does not have a valid copyright registration under which it may assert its claims based on copyright infringement."

The direct marketing firm filed suit in JUNE in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of VIRGINIA, ALEXANDRIA Division, alleging that SIRIUSXM infringed upon the "highly-promoted, successful, and publicly recognized trade dress" of the UrgentGram design, the copyright for which it registered in 1998.  The complaint alleges that a SIRIUSXM mailer with the design was sent to a woman who works for RR DONNELLEY and recognized the design, informing a CCAH employee about it.

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