Nuvio sues Garmin over 'Nuvifone'

Nuvio today announced that is has filed a trademark infringement suit against Garmin International in the U.S. District Court of Kansas. Nuvio claims that Garmin's recently announced Nuvifone infringes upon a prior Nuvio tradmark that the company uses on phones as well as its own telephony services. Nuvio attempted to reach a "mutually satisfactory resolution" with Garmin, but no resolution was reached. That led to Nuvio filing a legal complaint against Garmin to protect its rights.

"While we would have preferred to settle this without resorting to a lawsuit, we felt it was important to ensure that our customers and potential customers are not confused by someone abusing our legally protected trademark," said Jason P. Talley, CEO of Nuvio. "Our customers commonly refer to our service as the Nuvio phone."

Nuvio's lawsuit alleges that Garmin knowingly and willfully appropriated Nuvio's trademark, and is seeking a permanent injunction that prohibits Garmin from using the Nuvi name as well as damages for past infringement.

The company says it issued a cease and desist letter to Garmin on January 31st.

Filed under: industry
Other story tags: phone, Garmin, legal, telephony, court, Nuvi