Jurors hear CEO of business Penn State accuses of trademark infringement

WILLIAMSPORT — The CEO and founder of a company sued by Penn State for trademark infringement gave federal court jurors an insight on how his direct-to-consumer Vintage Brand business operates.

Chad Hartvigson explained Friday in U.S. Middle District Court that Penn State images that appear on Vintage Brand merchandise come from his collection of university pins, programs, tickets, pennants, stickers and decals

His testimony came on the fourth day of the trial as the defense began presenting its case, He will return to the stand Monday for cross-examination.

The parties have stipulated Vintage Brand, Sportswear Inc. and Hartvigson do not have a license to use any of Penn State’s trademarks.

Sportswear, of which Hartvigson owns 30 percent, receives orders from Vintage Brand, applies the vintage artwork and ships the product direct to the consumer. The e-commerce company has a facility in Kentucky.

Penn State argues the defendants are infringing on its trademarks but they contend the university-related historic images are in the public domain.

Hartvigson made note of the disclaimers of affiliation, licensure, sponsorship and endorsement as jurors saw pictures of Vintage Brand products taken from its website.

The website has more than 350 team pages including one from 2018 to 2021 titled “Penn State Nittany Lions Vintage Designs.” It was taken down when Penn State filed suit.

Jurors have heard David Franklyn an expert retained by the university say he concluded from his survey many consumers buying Vintage Brand merchandise think they are supporting Penn State.

The defense presented its own expert David Neal who after reviewing Franklyn survey opined it was fatally flawed and not scientifically reliable.

Sportswear, which does business as Prep Sportswear nearly was dropped from the case.

Brann late Thursday granted it a judgment of non-infringement concluding manufacturing infringing merchandise is alone insufficient to establish direct infringement liability.

Penn State early Friday asked the judge to reconsider his order noting Sportswear also is the exclusive distributor of Vintage Brand merchandise.

Prior to the trial resuming Friday Brann announced Sportswear will remain a defendant at least through the conclusion of the defense’s case. It will give time for the filing of briefs, he said.

The defendants also sought judgement as a matter of law claiming Penn State had not produced “even a scintilla of evidence” that the designs printed on apparel and on other goods serve the ends of trademark law.

Although Penn State produced witnesses explaining why they bought items containing images of the university, none gave a reason that implicates trademark law protection, they claimed.

The parties agreed Vintage Brand sold 1,269 products through its Penn State Nittany Lions store on vintagebrand.com for which it received $23,219 in revenue.

Hartvigson is a sports enthusiast who played outfield on the 1982 Kirkland, Washington, team that won the Little League World Series in South Williamsport and went on to play minor league baseball reaching the AAA level.