The Association of Corporate Counsel has sued general counsel and chief legal officer community The L Suite in Delaware federal court on the grounds that The L Suite infringed on the ACC’s copyright while promoting the AI product Lloyd.
The ACC accused The L Suite of trademark infringement, unfair competition, and copyright infringement after the latter used ACC-copyrighted materials in its promotions. One campaign allegedly showed Lloyd being used to surface an ACC benchmarking report.
Moreover, The L Suite reportedly utilized the trademarks “BY IN-HOUSE COUNSEL, FOR IN-HOUSE COUNSEL®”(U.S. Registration No. 4,491,049) and “ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE COUNSEL®” (U.S. Registration No. 3,831,792) in Lloyd promotions without the ACC’s authorization or consent when both trademarks are registered to the ACC. The ACC claimed that the materials were included in promotional content published on The L Suite’s website as well as on YouTube and LinkedIn.
The ACC said that the use of its materials in such a manner could confuse people into thinking that it was sponsoring, endorsing, or was affiliated with The L Suite or with the Lloyd product. The ACC claimed that it started issuing cease-and-desists to The L Suite in May.
“ACC has invested substantial resources into producing original research and educational content specifically designed for our members, in-house legal professionals, and other stakeholders in the legal industry who rely on the integrity of ACC’s name, trademarks, and research. When that intellectual property is used without authorization to market another company’s commercial products, it risks confusing our members and undermining the value of the assets we create to support the ACC membership experience,” said Jason L. Brown, the ACC’s president and chief executive officer, in a statement. ““We made a good-faith effort to resolve this matter directly, and when that effort failed, filing this complaint became necessary to protect our members’ interests and the integrity of ACC’s work.”
The ACC is seeking injunctive relief, damages, and other relief available under applicable law. It asserted its claims under the Lanham Act and applicable state trademark and unfair competition law in addition to the claims resulting from the supposed unauthorized use of ACC-copyrighted material.
Susanna McDonald, the ACC’s chief legal officer, said the organization would “continue to take appropriate action to safeguard its intellectual property and the members and community who rely on it.”
“This type of activity is not occurring in isolation. As AI-driven products continue to enter the market, we are increasingly seeing companies rely on established research, trusted data, and recognized brands to build credibility. It is a trend showing up in headlines and on the news on a regular basis,” said McDonald. “For ACC, credibility is built on more than 40 years of providing practical resources and thought leadership to the in-house legal community, and that trust is one of our most valuable assets. The same is true for organizations across the publishing, media, trade, and membership sectors, and in this environment, organizations need to think carefully about how their trademarks and copyrighted work can be used — and protected.”
The suit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, C.A. No. 1:26-cv-01138.