What was filed
The complaint is Document 1, filed October 14, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case is What Do You Meme, LLC v. IdeaStage Promotions LLC, No. 1:26-cv-09037, and it includes a jury demand. It pleads five counts: copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 501; trademark infringement under 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1)(a); New York common-law trademark infringement; false designation of origin under 15 U.S.C. § 1125; and unfair competition under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a). Counsel are Jeffrey A. Lindenbaum, Jess M. Collen, and James R. Hastings of Practus, LLP.
What the complaint alleges
What Do You Meme, a Delaware limited liability company based in New York City, says it is an entertainment consumer products company founded there in 2016 whose EMOTIONAL SUPPORT and EMOTIONAL SUPPORT PALS plush line reached millions of dollars in sales. It cites U.S. Reg. Nos. 7,497,419 (EMOTIONAL SUPPORT), 7,566,639 (EMOTIONAL SUPPORT PALS), and 6,902,855 (EMOTIONAL SUPPORT FRIES), all for stuffed and plush toys in Class 28, and says it holds more than 25 copyright registrations for its EMOTIONAL SUPPORT products and images, six of which it lists for the works at issue. USPTO records show that Reg. No. 7,497,419 for EMOTIONAL SUPPORT is on the Supplemental Register, registered September 3, 2024, and that Reg. Nos. 7,566,639 and 6,902,855 are on the Principal Register. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1094, a Supplemental Register registration does not receive the presumptions of 15 U.S.C. § 1057(b); the complaint, in paragraph 16, asserts those presumptions for all of its registrations. USPTO records also show that Reg. No. 7,566,639 for EMOTIONAL SUPPORT PALS disclaims "EMOTIONAL SUPPORT".
It alleges that IdeaStage sells Emotional Support plush toy sets in bulk on ideastage.com, that this use of EMOTIONAL SUPPORT is identical to the registered mark and on identical goods, and that the product images are strikingly similar to its registered copyrighted images. The complaint's side-by-side chart pairs IdeaStage product images with works from two of the six listed registrations, VA 2-382-936 and VA 2-470-469. It says IdeaStage never sought or paid for a license. The prayer asks for a permanent injunction, profits, damages, trebling under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(b), and fees under 15 U.S.C. § 1117, delivery up for destruction under 15 U.S.C. § 1118, a recall of the products, an accounting, and other relief. On the copyright count it alternatively seeks statutory damages of $150,000 for each of at least six works under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c).