Adt Llcv.Northstar Alarm Services, Llc
ADT settled a Lanham Act lawsuit against Vision Security with an injunction restricting specified sales tactics. NorthStar later acquired customer accounts, leases, and other assets from Vision and hired several of its officers and sales employees. After NorthStar allegedly used prohibited tactics, the district court held that NorthStar was bound by the injunction as Vision’s successor under a state-law de facto-merger theory. The Eleventh Circuit vacated that ruling. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65 permits an injunction to bind a nonparty in specified circumstances, but successor status alone could not bind NorthStar where the companies were not in privity and the record contained no evidence that NorthStar had notice of the injunction. The court rejected the district court’s approach and vacated the contempt-related order.
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