Nation v. U.S. Dep't of the Interior
Nation v. U.S. Dep't of the Interior
Opinion of the Court
I. INTRODUCTION
On August 17, 2017, Plaintiff Oneida Indian Nation commenced this action against Defendant United States Department of the Interior ("Defendant" or the "Department") pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act,
II. BACKGROUND
In 1794, the United States of America recognized the Oneida Nation when it entered into the Treaty of Canadaigua. See Dkt. No. 1 at ¶ 16. In the years following the treaty, the Oneida Nation split after some members sold a portion of the Oneida Nation's land and formed an independent successor tribe. See
In 1934, Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934,
In 1979, the Department began to periodically publish a list of all federally recognized tribal entities. See id. at ¶ 22. This list identified which tribal entities were recognized by the United States. See id. In 1994, congress passed the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (the "List Act"), which mandated that the Secretary of the Interior periodically publish the list of federally recognized tribal entities in the Federal Register. See id. at ¶ 23; see also Pub. L. No. 103-454, § 103, November 2, 1994. From 1979 to 2016, Plaintiff was listed as the "Oneida Nation of New York." See Dkt. No. 1 at ¶ 24. From 1979 to 2016, the OTIW was listed as some variation of the "Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin." See id.
In late 2010, the OTIW's government passed a resolution requesting a secretarial election to amend the tribe's constitution pursuant to
Although the Department concluded that the name change was not contrary to any applicable law, it nonetheless informed the OTIW
that the name "Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin" has a long history, including the reorganization under the Indian Reorganization Act. Changing the name will cause confusion for a number of entities engaged in business with the Oneida Tribe as well as other governments. Compounding this difficulty will be the name of the tribe in the state of New York, called the "Oneida Nation of New York". While the two names would not be exactly the same[,] they are close enough so that they will undoubtedly be confused more often than they are now. The Oneida Nation of New York is often referred to as the Oneida Indian Nation, including some self-determination contracts with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which will compound the existing confusion over this matter.
In late 2015, Plaintiff learned that the OTIW was planning to host a professional golf tournament on its reservation entitled the "Oneida LPGA Classic." See
On May 4, 2016, the Federal Register published a revised list of federally recognized tribal entities identifying the OTIW as the "Oneida Nation." See
On January 16, 2017, the OTIW notified Plaintiff in a letter that the federal name change entitled the OTIW to use the "Oneida Nation" name and that Plaintiff could no longer refer to itself as "Oneida Nation." See
a. invoked the decisions to claim that the Wisconsin tribe had a right to use the "Oneida Nation" name with no clarifying reference to Wisconsin;
*43b. stated that [Plaintiff] ... "has never been federally recognized as Oneida Nation;"
c. threatened to petition to cancel [Plaintiff's] registered trademarks unless [Plaintiff] would enter into an agreement permitting the [OTIW] to market itself under the newly-federally approved name "Oneida Nation;" and
d. insisted that [Plaintiff] never again "refer to itself as the Oneida Nation, which is the federally recognized name of [the OTIW]."
On June 27, 2017, the OTIW filed a petition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ("TTAB") to initiate an inter-partes review proceeding to cancel Plaintiff's trademark registration. See
On August 17, 2017, Plaintiff filed this action in the Northern District of New York asserting two claims under the Administrative Procedure Act. See Dkt. No. 1. Plaintiff's first claim is that the Assistant Secretary's decision to publish the OTIW's changed name in the Federal Register was arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise contrary to applicable law. See
On September 12, 2017, the OTIW filed an amended consolidated petition with the TTAB. See Dkt. No. 23-2 at 2. The amended petition argues that three of Plaintiff's registered marks should be cancelled. See
On December 21, 2017, Plaintiff moved for the TTAB to suspend the cancellation proceeding pending a final determination in this action. See Dkt. No. 19-1 at 2. On January 23, 2018, the TTAB granted the motion and suspended the proceedings. See
On August 15, 2018, Plaintiff submitted a letter to the Court that contained two cases of parties confusing Plaintiff with the OTIW. See Dkt. No. 31 at 1. The first was an email exchange between Plaintiff and the Indian Health Service. See Dkt. No. 31-1 at 4. On July 20, 2018, the Indian Health Service mistakenly sent a Request for Corrective Action Plan to Plaintiff regarding the OTIW's failure to follow proper vender verification procedures. See
III. DISCUSSION
A. Standard of Review
When a party moves to dismiss a claim pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1), "the movant is deemed to be challenging the factual basis for the court's subject matter jurisdiction." Cedars-Sinai Med. Ctr. v. Watkins ,
B. Article III Standing
Unless a plaintiff has Article III standing, a court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear their claim. See Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife ,
When an "asserted injury arises from the government's allegedly unlawful regulation ... of someone else, much more is needed." Lujan ,
Plaintiff claims that it has standing because it has suffered two injuries in fact. First, Plaintiff argues that the Department's actions caused the OTIW to initiate its TTAB cancellation proceeding. Second, Plaintiff claims that the Department's actions allow the OTIW to conduct business in a manner that will create confusion between the OTIW and Plaintiff.
1. Possible Prejudice in the TTAB Proceeding
Plaintiff claims that the OTIW's cancellation action constitutes an injury in fact, noting that the TTAB proceeding has cost Plaintiff resources. See Dkt. No. 19 at 17. According to Plaintiff, under Utah v. Evans ,
The requirement that an injury be redressable aims to ensure "that the harm alleged be redressable by a favorable decision." E.M. v. New York City Dep't of Educ. ,
The Court first notes that the TTAB's decision to halt the cancellation proceeding on the grounds that the outcome of this case may affect the cancellation proceeding does not mean that the outcome of this case will affect the cancellation proceeding. See Dkt. No. 19-1 at 2. "It is standard procedure for the Trademark Board to stay administrative proceedings pending the outcome of court litigation.... involving related issues." New Orleans Louisiana Saints LLC & NFL Properties LLC ,
Looking at the grounds for cancellation asserted in the OTIW's amended consolidated petition, the Court finds that the issues before the Court in this case are not material to the OTIW's grounds for cancellation. The OTIW's first set of challenges to Plaintiff's registrations are based on conduct entirely unrelated to the OTIW's rights to Plaintiff's name. The allegations that Plaintiff failed to utilize the registered marks have no connection to the OTIW's rights to the "Oneida" name. See, e.g. , Dkt. No. 23-2 at ¶¶ 191-93 (alleging Plaintiff had no bona fide intent to use the "Oneida" mark); ¶¶ 207-08 (alleging Plaintiff abandoned the "Oneida" mark); ¶¶ 211-13 (alleging Plaintiff never used the "Oneida" mark). Since these arguments for cancellation are unrelated to the OTIW's rights to "Oneida Nation," the Court concludes that the outcome of this case will not materially effect their resolution in the TTAB proceeding.
The outcome of this case will also not affect the OTIW's second group of arguments for cancellation, that the OTIW had preexisting marks that resembled Plaintiff's in 2006. These claims are based on filings from 2006, nearly a decade before the actions currently at issue. See Dkt. No. 23-2 at ¶¶ 187-88, 214-15. Because the Department's challenged actions occurred in 2015-16, the outcome of this case is not pertinent to showing whether the OTIW had any marks that resembled Plaintiff's marks in 2006.
Finally, the outcome of this case will not help the OTIW establish that Plaintiff knowingly filed fraudulent statements regarding the OTIW's use of "Oneida" to the Trademark Board. The material issue in resolving these trademark fraud claims will be determining whether Plaintiff made a "false statement with the intent to deceive the [United States Patent and Trademark Office] into issuing or maintaining that registration." Dkt. No. 23-1 at 6 (citing In re Bose Corp. ,
Here, the Department's decision to approve the OTIW's constitutional amendment to change its name has no bearing on whether Plaintiff was aware of the OTIW's use of "Oneida Nation." As Plaintiff acknowledged, the Department did not notify Plaintiff of its deliberation to approve the amendment. Even if Plaintiff was aware of the proceedings, the actual approval itself is not material in determining fraud, as the central question is whether Plaintiff was aware of the OTIW's use of "Oneida," not whether that use was sanctioned by the Department.
Similarly, whether the Department correctly recognized the OTIW as "Oneida Nation" when it published its list of federally recognized tribal entities is also irrelevant to adjudicating the fraud claims. The last allegedly fraudulent filing occurred on August 10, 2015, several months before the Department published the list in the Federal Register. Because these filings occurred well before the Department listed the OTIW as "Oneida Nation" in the list of federally recognized tribal entities, the publication is not relevant for determining *47whether Plaintiff filed fraudulent documents in order to protect its trademarks.
Having reviewed the OTIW's cancellation petition before the TTAB, the Court concludes that even if the Court were to reverse the Department's decisions, this reversal would not alter the outcome of the TTAB proceeding. Thus, it is clear that even if the ongoing trademark action is an injury in fact, it is not redressable by this action and cannot be used to establish standing.
2. Confusion
Plaintiff also argues that the Department's decision to approve the name change and listing the new name in the Federal Register has caused or will cause confusion between the two entities. Included in the Complaint is an allegation that the OTIW named a golf tournament the "Oneida LPGA Classic." Plaintiff also points to its recent submission as proof that actual confusion has occurred between Plaintiff and the OTIW. The Court, however, disagrees that this injury establishes standing because Plaintiff has failed to show that any alleged potential or actual confusion is directly or indirectly traceable to the Department's actions and that the actual confusion alleged in Plaintiff's supplemental submission are neither injuries in fact nor traceable to the Department's actions at issue in this case.
In order to satisfy the traceability requirement, the alleged injury in fact must be "fairly traceable to the actions of the defendant." Bennett v. Spear ,
Where an "alleged injury flows not directly from the challenged agency action, but rather from independent actions of third parties," the plaintiff must show "that the agency action is at least a substantial factor motivating the third parties' actions." Tozzi v. U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs. ,
Here, Plaintiff has not established that any confusion is traceable to the Department's decision to approve the OTIW's constitutional amendment or to identify the OTIW as "Oneida Nation" on the list of federally recognized tribal entities. The Department's approval of the OTIW's constitutional amendment to change its name would not, on its own, cause any confusion given that the action only amounted to approving a change to an internal tribal governance document. Further, the publication of the OTIW as "Oneida Nation" as a federally recognized tribal entity could not cause any confusion between Plaintiff and the OTIW because the Department notes that "Oneida Nation" was previously listed as the "Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin" on the list of federally recognized tribal entities in the Federal Register. See
Plaintiff's examples of confusion do not constitute evidence of confusion traceable to the Department's actions being *48challenged. First, "not all confusion counts: evidence of actual confusion must show more than a fleeting mix-up of names." Streamline Production Systems, Inc. v. Streamline Manufacturing, Inc. ,
However, even if these examples were injuries in fact, they are not traceable to the Department's actions that are currently at issue. Purpora Engineering's misaddressed invoice identified the correct recipient, the OTIW, and used the correct physical address. The only mistake appears to be that Purpora Engineering somehow found and used Plaintiff's email address instead of the OTIW's. Given that neither challenged action involved the publication of Plaintiff or the OTIW's contact information, the Court does not see how this error could be traced back to the matters currently before the Court.
Similarly, the Court cannot see how the Department's challenged actions could have caused the Indian Health Service to inadvertently send the Request for Corrective Action Plan to Plaintiff instead of the OTIW. The Indian Health Service's letter was a response to an audit submitted by the OTIW. See Dkt. No. 31-1 at 2. Thus, the Indian Health Service was clearly aware of which entity it was dealing with when it mistakenly sent the Request for Corrective Action Plan to Plaintiff. Given that the Indian Health Services knew which entity it intended to deal with, the Court finds it implausible that this mistake could be traced back to the Department's actions at issue. For the reasons previously discussed, the approval of the name-change amendment would not cause this sort of confusion as it only approved a change to an internal governing document. It is not the sort of public change that could have caused this mistake. Further, the list of federally recognized tribal entities only serves to verify that a tribal entity has been federally recognized. The mistake in the correspondence occurred well past the stage where the Indian Health Services would have needed to confirm the OTIW's status as a federally recognized tribal entity. As such, the Department's actions have not directly caused this confusion.
Plaintiff has also failed to show that the Department's actions could be a substantial factor in causing the OTIW to engage in any misleading or confusing use of "Oneida Nation." Authorizing an entity to use a name does not "license the commission of what would otherwise be a tortious act." Hulburt Oil & Grease Co. v. Hulburt Oil & Grease Co.
According to Plaintiff, the Department's stated policy is to automatically adopt any name chosen by a tribe. Further, the section of the Code of Federal Regulations pertinent to the federal recognition and publication of tribal entities does not include any rules allowing the Department to deny federal recognition or refuse to publish said recognition based on a tribal entity's chosen name. See
The Department cannot be held responsible for the OTIW engaging in conduct in which it was already entitled to engage. The Department did not suddenly grant the OTIW permission to use "Oneida" in a previously forbidden manner, so any lawful use of "Oneida" was always permissible. Similarly any unlawful use of "Oneida" was always unlawful and would leave the OTIW liable to Plaintiff. Such a reckless course of action by the OTIW would clearly be independent conduct and not traceable to the Department's actions currently at issue. Thus, the Court finds that any confusing or misleading use of "Oneida" by the OTIW would not be traceable to the Department's approval of the OTIW's constitutional amendment to change its name or identification of the OTIW as "Oneida Nation" in the list of federally recognized tribal entities in the Federal Register.
Even Plaintiff's single concrete example of an action take by the OTIW that might cause confusion-the OTIW's attempt to name a golf tournament the "Oneida LPGA Classic"-cannot be causally traced to the Department.
IV. CONCLUSION
After carefully reviewing the entire record in this matter, the parties' submissions *50and the applicable law, and for the above-stated reasons, the Court hereby
ORDERS that Defendant's motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction (Dkt. No. 14) is GRANTED ; and the Court further
ORDERS that the Clerk of the Court shall enter judgment in Defendant's favor and close this case; and the Court further
ORDERS that the Clerk of the Court shall serve a copy of this Memorandum-Decision and Order on the parties in accordance with the Local Rules.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
The Court notes that it is unclear whether the OTIW even used the name "Oneida LPGA Classic" given that the OTIW renamed the tournament to the "Thornbury Creek LPGA Classic" after Plaintiff sent a cease and desist letter. See Dkt. No. 1-4 at ¶¶ 27-28.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ONEIDA INDIAN NATION v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
- Status
- Published