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Plaintiff, Bishop Macram Max Gassis, was the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sudan Relief Fund, Inc., formerly known as Bishop Gassis Sudan Relief Fund, Inc. The Court of Chancery found that the Board’s decision to remove Plaintiff as director of the Fund neither violated the Fund’s bylaws nor constituted a breach of fiduciary duty. This opinion concerned remaining issues involving allegations that, after Plaintiff was removed as Chairman and member of the corporation, the corporation used, without authorization, Plaintiff’s trademarked property - Plaintiff’s name and likeness - to raise funds for its charitable purposes. Plaintiff, however, sued only individual directors of the Fund, not the corporation itself. The Court of Chancery granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss as to Plaintiff’s claims based on use of his trademarks, holding that there were no allegations in the complaint that could sustain a claim that Defendants personally misappropriated Plaintiff’s name and likeness to their own use or that Defendants took actions to cause the corporation to improperly exploit Plaintiff’s name and likeness.
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