What was filed
The complaint is ECF No. 1, filed October 23, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division. The case is Tillman Allen Greer LLC v. Top Rated Online, LLC, No. 2:26-cv-14055, assigned to Judge Matthew F. Leitman, with Magistrate Judge Kimberly G. Altman. It runs 35 pages and demands a jury trial. It is signed by Linda D. Kennedy of Panagos Kennedy PLLC in Troy, Michigan.
The parties and the marks
The complaint describes the plaintiff as a Georgia limited liability company based in Buford, Georgia, that publishes regional magazines and guides, including Georgia Business Journal and Gwinnett Magazine, and sells official plaques and promotional packages to award recipients. It lists 13 federal registrations, nine on the Principal Register and four (BEST OF GEORGIA, GEORGIA BUSINESS JOURNAL, BEST OF FLORIDA, and BEST OF SOUTH CAROLINA) on the Supplemental Register, including plaque-design marks for Gwinnett, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. It also pleads common law rights in marks such as GUIDE TO SOUTH CAROLINA and BEST OF KENTUCKY, and Copyright Registration No. TX 9-624-824 for the June 25, 2026 online edition of its 2026 Best of South Carolina results. USPTO TSDR lists Tillman Allen Greer LLC as the owner of all 13 registrations, and Copyright Office records show the copyright registration, dated July 28, 2026, in the name of Tillman Allen Greer, LLC. The defendant is described, on information and belief, as a Michigan limited liability company based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
What the complaint alleges
The complaint alleges that the defendant uses the plaintiff's published award lists to contact the same recipients through emails, calls, and plaque mockups at awards.topratedaward.com, offering plaques for about $159 to $219. It says the plaintiff sent cease-and-desist letters on March 23, 2023 and February 7, 2024 that drew no substantive response, and that no later than May 2026 the defendant had renewed and expanded its campaigns, later reaching the South Carolina, Kentucky, and Florida programs. It alleges that a plaque the defendant sold to a Best of South Carolina recipient reproduced the registered South Carolina plaque mark, and that a Best of Florida recipient paid the defendant $177.50 for a plaque on September 29, 2026 believing it was an order from or for the plaintiff. It also alleges, on information and belief, that the defendant copied protected elements of the South Carolina results pages into its own campaign materials.
Claims and relief requested
Tillman Allen Greer brings all four counts against Top Rated Online: infringement and counterfeiting under 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1) (Count I), false designation of origin and unfair competition under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1)(A) (Count II), copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 501 (Count III), and Michigan common law trademark infringement and unfair competition (Count IV). The prayer asks for preliminary and permanent injunctions against use of the marks and the South Carolina work; profits, damages, costs, enhanced damages, and fees under 15 U.S.C. § 1117, or at the plaintiff's election statutory damages for counterfeit marks under § 1117(c); copyright damages and profits or statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. § 504; fees and costs under 17 U.S.C. § 505; an accounting; destruction or other disposition of infringing materials under 15 U.S.C. § 1118 and 17 U.S.C. § 503; corrective advertising or notice to recipients; and pre- and post-judgment interest.