US Court Judgement
October 2010
A contempt judgment against promoters of the imposter Drifters has been affirmed by the third circuit court of appeals. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued its Opinion affirming the district court’s finding of contempt against Larry Marshak, his family and business associates for violating a court order issued in 2001, enjoining them from continuing to infringe on The Drifters’ trademark.
Larry Marshak was accused by the Treadwell family of ‘passing off’ for having put out an unauthorized Drifters line up into Las Vegas and elsewhere in the US in a dispute going back several years. The US Supreme Court prohibited Marshak from using the name and found that he had fraudulently obtained the trademark and that the Treadwells were the sole rightful owners of The Drifters.
The Third Circuit reversed the district court’s denial of an accounting of profits, holding that Marshak and his cronies should pay Faye Treadwell for the many years they spent infringing on The Drifters’ trademark. Such an award could potentially be in the tens of millions of dollars.
Cindy D. Salvo (Pictured), attorney for Faye Treadwell, says "This is a huge victory for Ms. Treadwell, who has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years fighting Marshak and other infringers.”