Florida Virtual School sued K12 and K12 Florida for allegedly infringing the school’s registered marks used in its online education program. The district court dismissed the action without prejudice, holding that the school lacked standing because Florida statutes vested authority over State-owned trademarks in the Department of State. The Eleventh Circuit certified the statutory-authority question to the Supreme Court of Florida. That court rephrased the question to include the school board’s status as a body corporate and held that the enabling statute authorized Florida Virtual School to file suit to protect trademarks it acquired and used. The statute’s specific and later-enacted grant of corporate powers controlled over the Department of State’s more general authority, and the power to acquire and use intellectual property would be ineffective if the school could not protect it from infringement. The Eleventh Circuit then adopted that answer, held that the school had standing to pursue the infringement action, and reversed and remanded the district court’s dismissal. The court left open K12’s alternative argument that the registrations themselves were void, allowing the district court to address that issue first.