Last week, Warren Miller Entertainment (which is a separate entity from Warren Miller himself, and his foundation "The Warren Miller Freedom Foundation") filed a lawsuit against Level 1 Productions for trademark infringement as a result of Warren Miller's participation in Level 1's new ski movie, "Refresh".
Warren Miller, who is no longer affiliated with Warren Miller Entertainment, willingly provided commentary in Level 1 Productions' 10th film, Refresh, which has been receiving rave reviews.
Level 1 Productions is a small ski film company based in Denver, Colorado that is owned and operated by Josh Berman, who makes newschool ski movies.
Pro skier Tom Wallisch with Level 1 Productions' Josh Berman
Shortly after the filing of the lawsuit, Warren Miller Entertainment also entered a plea for a Temporary Restraining Order that would prevent last week's premiere of Refresh in Boulder, Colorado, which was denied by Judge Marcia Krieger, at which point the premiere took place in front of a capacity crowd at the Bluebird Theatre.
Following the filing of the lawsuit and the denial of the Temporary Restraining Order, both Level 1 and Warren Miller Entertainment released statements concerning the lawsuit, and earlier this week, Warren Miller himself entered the lawsuit as a potential third party intervenor. His Opposition is forcefully challenging Warren Miller Entertainment's trademark allegations, and alleging that WME should have approached him, not Level 1, over this dispute as opposed to suing Level 1.
Warren Miller
Although Warren Miller Entertainment lost the initial motion for an interim injunction (mainly due to the very short notice and duration of its filing), they are still pushing for a preliminary injunction against Level 1 for between now and the trial, which is scheduled to take place on October 22nd.
For more information and details on the ongoing lawsuit, go to Newschoolers.com.
