Polaroid/Fujifilm trademark spat to head to trial; no date set

Polaroid and Fujifilm will finally have their day in court over their nearly decade-long spat over the rights to the appearance of instant photographs. Back in 2017, Polaroid Holdings filed suit against Fujifilm, contending the “classic border logo” (CBL) pioneered by Polaroid is infringed upon by Fujifilm’s Instax.

According to the documents, the Classic Border Logo is a “vertically-oriented rectangle surrounding a small inner square, with the square positioned in a way that creates the visual impression of thin, typically white, borders along the top and sides and a thicker, typically white, border along the bottom.”

Back in 2017, Polaroid – despite not having manufactured its own instant film since 2008 – threatened legal action against Fujifilm unless it pulled its Instax Square film from the market, alleging it is essentially identical to Polaroid’s version. Although Polaroid stopped making film (until it was brought back by the Impossible Project), it did continue to license its trademarks.

In the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York order, in the case Fujifilm North America Corp. versus PLR IP Holdings, LLC (dba Polaroid), 81-year-old Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald stated that Polaroid raised sufficient grounds that an average person could confuse Polaroid’s CBL with Instax film. Judge Buchwald stated: “In sum, triable issues of fact remain with regard to many of the Polaroid factors, and particularly with respect to actual consumer confusion and Fujifilm’s bad faith. Accordingly, summary judgment is not warranted on Polaroid’s counterclaims alleging initial interest and point-of-sale confusion with respect to the CBL.”

“Given the volume and variety of this evidence, which includes customer support emails, Twitter and Instagram posts, and other online inquiries, Polaroid has sufficiently raised a genuine issue of material fact with respect to the existence of actual confusion,” the order reads. “A reasonable juror could conclude that Fujifilm intended to deceive customers and trade on the goodwill engendered by Polaroid’s classic border logo… “There can be no dispute that, when removed from its packaging, Fujifilm’s Instax Square film is nearly identical to Polaroid’s analog instant film bearing the CBL.”