LWC Assets IP sues CNN and Jubilee over a CHANGE MY MIND display at a U.S. Senate candidate town hall in Texas: complaint allegations

What was filed

The complaint is Document 1, filed October 19, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division. The case is LWC Assets IP, LLC v. Cable News Network, Inc., CNN America, Inc., and Jubilee, Inc., No. 4:26-cv-01330. It pleads three counts: trademark infringement under 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1); trademark counterfeiting, which the complaint heads under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(b) and says violates 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1)(a); and dilution by blurring under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(c). Counsel are Kinsey D. Lakey and Heidi B. Roskelley of Platt Richmond PLLC. The complaint runs 13 pages.

The parties and the mark

LWC Assets IP, LLC is a Texas limited liability company based in Dallas County, Texas. The complaint describes Cable News Network, Inc. as a Delaware corporation based in Atlanta, Georgia, CNN America, Inc. as a corporation based in Atlanta, Georgia, and Jubilee, Inc. as a corporation based in Los Angeles, California.

The complaint says LWC Assets IP owns CHANGE MY MIND, U.S. Reg. No. 5,960,565, registered January 14, 2020, and has granted an affiliate and the series host exclusive use of the mark, with that use inuring to its benefit. It says the mark was first used in an October 21, 2017 video, is the centerpiece of a series in which participants hold one-on-one dialogues on political and social issues while seated behind signage bearing the mark, and has appeared in more than 80 videos. USPTO records show the registration in Class 41 for entertainment services, namely providing on-going webisodes featuring comedy and politics via a global computer network, and providing information, news and commentary in the field of entertainment, with a combined Sections 8 and 15 declaration accepted. USPTO records list the registrant as LWC IP Assets LLC of Dallas, Texas, and a first-use date of December 5, 2017.

What the complaint alleges

LWC Assets IP alleges that on October 14, 2026, CNN and Jubilee hosted a nationally televised town hall in Fort Worth, Texas, featuring a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat from Texas, and invited participants to engage the candidate in one-on-one dialogues on divisive topics in a format intentionally modeled on the Change My Mind series. It alleges that defendants prominently displayed CHANGE MY MIND throughout the event, alongside the debate topics, and that the red coloring of the final word imitates its own use. The complaint shows screenshots from the broadcast next to images from its own videos.

It alleges, on information and belief, that defendants chose the mark because of its recognition among conservative and Republican audiences. It also alleges that defendants sought to create a false impression that the plaintiff, its affiliate, and the series host approved of, endorsed, or were associated with the candidate's campaign, and that they profited from the resulting viewership and the advertising broadcast during the town hall. On the dilution count, it alleges that since the mark's first publication in 2017 it has become widely recognized by the general consuming public of the United States.

Relief requested

The prayer asks for a temporary order and a preliminary injunction, a permanent injunction, actual damages, disgorgement of profits, treble damages or profits, a reasonable royalty, attorneys' fees, costs, and pre-judgment and post-judgment interest. In the counts, LWC Assets IP says it may instead elect statutory damages under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(c), up to $2,000,000 per counterfeit mark, and seeks injunctive relief under 15 U.S.C. § 1116. The complaint states no actual damages figure.