Trademark practitioners in Illinois are quite familiar with the case of the World Church of the Creator ("World Church"). In 2000 the World Church was sued for trademark infringement by the TE-TA-MA Truth Foundation--Family of URI, Inc. (the "Foundation") that operated under the name "Church of the Creator." The district court judge entered summary judgment in favor of the World Church, but the Seventh Circuit reversed and remanded the case with instructions to enter judgment in favor of the Foundation. That decision can be found here.
In a related criminal case, the leader of the World Church, Matthew Hale, was convicted in 2004 on two counts of obstructing justice and one count of soliciting a crime of violence in connection with his resistance to the judgment entered in the trademark case and "his involvement in a plot to have the judge murdered." Mr. Hale appealed. On May 30, 2006,in a thirty-page per curiam decision found here, the Seventh Circuit affirmed on all counts.
