DECISION & ORDER On November 2, 2022, Mister Softee, Inc. (“Mister Softee”), commenced this action under the Lanham Act and New York common law.1 Docket Item 1; see id. at 31. Mister Softee alleged that the defendants, Fayez M. Abdallah, Najib Ali Alawdi, and Amna A. Mohamad, were “operat[ing] ice cream trucks using Mister Softee’s trademarks and trade dress without [its] authorization.” Id. at 1. The defendants were served in late 2022,2 see Docket Items 8, 9, and 12, and two of them — Abdallah and Alawdi — settled with Mister Softee, Docket Item 10. But after the third defendant, Mohamad, failed to appear or defend this action, Mister Softee asked the Clerk of the Court to enter a default against her, Docket Item 13, and on March 27, 2023, the Clerk entered that default, Docket Item 14. Mister Softee then moved for a default judgment, a permanent injunction, and an award of attorney’s fees and costs. Docket Item 15. Mohamad did not respond to that motion, see Docket Item 16 (setting briefing schedule), nor did she respond to an order to show cause as to why Mister Softee’s motion should not be decided on the papers currently before the Court, see Docket Item 17. Her time to respond has expired. Id. Based on its review of Mister Softee’s motion papers and for the reasons that follow, the Court grants in part and denies in part Mister Softee’s motion. BACKGROUND3 Mister Softee is “the franchisor of Mister Softee mobile ice cream truck businesses that sell soft-serve ice cream, hard ice cream, frozen desserts, novelties, stick items[,] and other products.” Docket Item 1 at 8. The company owns several trademarks associated with “Mister Softee,” including the “Mister Softee [l]ogos,” its jingle, and “the overall design of the Mister Softee ice cream truck,” and it has “continuously used” those marks for decades — most since 1956.4 Id. at
10, 12. The Mister Softee truck has a number of “distinctive…characteristics.” Id. at 13. More specifically, it is “white with a blue trim” and blue wheels, with certain phrases — including “The Very Best” and “Mister Softee” — written in “red cursive print” or “in blue, block capital letters…[with] a green, frost-like trim” — in particular places across the truck’s front and sides. Id. at 13(a)-(d). “[A] distinctive cartoon logo…depicting a soft serve ice cream cone with a smiley face and bow tie” is painted on the truck under the “red script words ‘Mister Softee.’” Id. at 13(e). In addition, the display windows of the truck “contain designed advertisements printed on plastic for [various] specialty products.” Id. at 13(i). Other aspects of the truck’s design are distinctive as well. See id. at 13(a)-(n). Mister Softee provides its “franchisees” with “licenses” to “use Mister Softee’s trade names, service marks[,] and trademarks and to operate [Mister Softee ice cream trucks].” Id. at 9; see also id. at 14. At some point “in the early to mid-2000s,” Mister Softee “entered into [an] oral license agreement[]” with Mohamad that afforded her such a license. Id. at 17.5 The agreement “renew[ed] each year” upon Mohamad’s payment of “the yearly license fee.” Id. at 18. In February 2021, Mister Softee sent a “[n]otice of [t]ermination” to Mohamad, letting her know that it “did not intend to renew the [l]icense [a]greement[].” Id. at 19. It “demanded that [Mohamad] cease and desist…[her] use [of] Mister Softee’s [m]arks before the seasonal ice cream business started up in late March/early April.” Id. In April and May 2022, Mister Softee attempted to resolve the conflict with Mohamad (and the other two defendants initially named in this action) through mediation. Id. at 20. After those talks broke down, “Mister Softee sent [Mohamad's] counsel a letter demanding” that Mohamad “immediately cease and desist” her use of Mister Softee trademarks, “de-identify [her] ice cream truck[],” and return the “music box…programmed to play the Mister Softee [jingle].”6 Id. at
