June 24, 2026|Intellectual Property
Buchalter secured a favorable ruling on behalf of client BDE Miss USA LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, where Judge Brantley Starr granted a preliminary injunction against The Pageant Guy Productions LLC — barring the company from using the Miss Texas USA and Miss Texas Teen USA trademarks or advertising itself as part of the Miss USA ecosystem.
BDE Miss USA holds exclusive rights to operate the national Miss USA pageant and control its associated intellectual property, including the Texas-specific marks used to identify the official state-level pathway to the national competition. The Pageant Guy Productions, operated by William Henderson, had previously operated the Texas pageant under short-term licensing arrangements that did not convey trademark rights or renewal options, and continued operating the 2025 pageant without a renewed agreement or any license to use the marks.
Judge Starr found that BDE is likely to succeed on the merits of its trademark infringement claims, holding that BDE has a “cognizable interest in the marks at issue” and would be damaged by the unauthorized parallel pageant. The court further found that the injunction serves the public interest, noting that women seeking a path to the Miss USA title would find no value in entering a competition that is not part of the official Miss USA system.
The Buchalter team representing BDE Miss USA included Partners Matthew Yarbrough, Jason Blackstone, Thomas O’Connell, and Farah Bhatti.
For more information, view the case docket or the Bloomberg Law article.*
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