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Gold's Gym Prepares To Body Slam Impostor in Legal Proceedings.

MINNEAPOLIS, May 22, 2009 -- Health center giants Gold's Gym enlisted the help of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to protect and prevent its trademarks from being used by an impostor in St. Joseph’s, Minnesota.

Gold’s Gym Licensing LLC, in conjunction with its licensing agreements with Gold’s Gym
Franchising, LLC and Gold’s Gym Merchandising, LLC, is engaged in the business of
granting franchises to qualified, independent business persons to operate health and fitness centers worldwide using a proprietary distinctive business format, system of operations, and registered trademarks.

K-PRO Marketing Group, Inc. is accused of operating a health center under the guise of being an authorized Gold's Gym, when in fact they have never received any authorization of any kind.

The facility operated by K-PRO Marketing Group, Inc. bears various GOLD'S GYM marks and so does their advertising. The complaint also alleged that various items of clothing and other merchandise bearing the GOLD'S GYM marks are sold at the facility.

Franchisees frequently become the target of trademark infringement lawsuits brought by the franchisors when the franchisee continues to operate the business under the franchise brand after the franchise agreement has been terminated. The most common grounds for terminating the franchise agreement is when the franchisee fails to make regular payments to the franchisor per the terms of the contract.

In this case, K-PRO Marketing Group, Inc. was never an authorized to operate a franchise.

Gold's Gym is seeking the destruction of all counterfeit items, an order forbidding K-PRO from using Gold's trademarks, and an award of the the maximum allowable damages.

When a court finds a defendant intentionally counterfeited a registered trademark, the court must under the Lanham Act, enter judgment for three times the greater of the counterfeiters' profits or the plaintiff's damages together with a reasonable attorney’s fee unless the Plaintiff elects for statutory damages up to $1,000,000 per counterfeit mark per type of goods or services.