N.H. firm sues in trademark mess

A marketing firm in Manchester is suing a multibillion-dollar corporation for messing with its Make A Mess trademark.Gigunda Group Inc., in a suit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Concord, claims that Delta Faucet teamed up with eModeration Inc. to use a hot pink handprint to market its product through a virtual finger-painting application entitled, “Make a Mess.”But Make a Mess LLC – Gigunda’s sister company – has already trademarked the pink handprint for its children’s amusement and recreation center, says the suit.In June, Gigunda learned that Delta was promoting its “Touch20” faucet using the Make a Mess mark, the suit says.Delta is a division of Masco Corp., a company based in Michigan and traded on the New York Stock Exchange with $7.8 billion in sales in 2009.Delta allegedly partnered with eModeration in February 2010. The finger painting started on Delta’s Web site and was also available as an app sold through Apple’s iTunes store as well as trough the online store for Blackberry apps.Gigunda says it demanded in July that Delta discontinue using the Make a Mess mark, but Delta refused on Aug. 5, according to the suit, which seeks an unspecified amount of damages. — BOB SANDERS/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW