Partners Joseph Mueller and Brittany Amadi were named Litigation Daily’s “Litigators of the Week” in recognition of their trademark victory for client T-Mobile US Inc. in its high-stakes dispute with Simply Wireless.
On November 1, 2022, Senior US District Judge Anthony Trenga awarded T-Mobile summary judgment against Simply Wireless’s claims that T-Mobile’s use of the “Simply Prepaid” name infringed on its common law ownership of the phrase. In his 30-page opinion, Judge Trenga found that Simply Wireless had abandoned its trademark before T-Mobile’s retail dealers began operating stores under the “Simply Prepaid” name in 2014. T-Mobile, one of the three largest mobile network providers in the US, has made more than $1 billion in revenues from wireless services using the name.
In the Q&A feature accompanying the Litigators of the Week recognition, Mueller and Amadi discussed the high degree of analytical intensity needed to successfully defend the use of an unregistered trademark with a factual history that began in 2015. The featured litigators gave credit to other members of the WilmerHale team for their roles in the victory, including Joss Berteaud, Lanta Chase, Will Conlon, Vinita Ferrera, Gideon Hanft, Colleen Jackson, Rauvin Johl, Hallie Levin, Becky Middleton, Chip O’Neill, Jim Quarles, Emily Scherker and Michaela Sewall. They also noted the invaluable contributions of their co-counsel, Russ Jones and Jay Heidrick of Polsinelli and T-Mobile’s Melissa Scanlan and Jon Putman.