Judge offers details in denying Cheekwood TRO request

U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson has ruled that the group that oversees the Swan Ball has, to date, “provided sufficient evidence” of its claim to ownership of the annual event’s trademark — the latest update in a case that now moves to mediation.

In his ruling, Richardson notes that — despite Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art officials’ claims that because SB Initiative Inc. did not exist before May 2024, it (SBI) could not have been the first to use the mark — SBI has made a “persuasive argument” that the Swan Ball committee was an unincorporated association under Tennessee law and, therefore, existed as an entity (distinguishable from Cheekwood) that “could be deemed to have used the SWAN BALL Mark prior to Cheekwood.”