Cite as 2013 Ark. 232
SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
No. CV-12-510
|
ARKANSAS LOTTERY COMMISSION, BISHOP WOOSLEY, DIRECTOR
APPELLANT
V. ALPHA MARKETING
APPELLEE
|
Opinion Delivered: May 30, 2013
APPEAL FROM THE PULASKI COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. CV 2010-1458] HONORABLE WENDELL GRIFFEN, JUDGE REVERSED AND DISMISSED. |
JOSEPHINE LINKER HART, Associate Justice
Appellee, Alpha Marketing ("Alpha"), brought this cause of action in the Pulaski County Circuit Court against appellant, Arkansas Lottery Commission ("the Commission"), seeking, in its second amended complaint, declaratory relief that Alpha’s registered trademarks of "Arkansas Lottery," "Arkansas Lotto," and "Lottery Arkansas" are valid and that it holds exclusive rights to use them; injunctive relief enjoining the Commission’s alleged acts of trademark infringement; and monetary damages in the form of lost profits stemming from the alleged trademark infringement. Alpha also asserted that the alleged acts of trademark infringement constitute an illegal taking of private property in derogation of the Arkansas Constitution, entitling it to an injunction until the Commission deposits adequate funds with the circuit court to compensate Alpha for its damages.
The Commission brings this second interlocutory appeal from the circuit court's denial of the Commission’s motion to dismiss Alpha's lawsuit on the basis that the Commission has sovereign immunity, the first having been dismissed without prejudice for lack of a specific
