Maxim’s Injunction Bid Denied in Southern District of New York Over Delay and Unprotectable Contest Mechanics

MANHATTAN (LN) — U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl denied Maxim Inc.’s motion for a preliminary injunction against Playboy Inc. on Friday, ruling that the lifestyle brand’s five-month delay in seeking relief and its failure to protect the contest mechanics as trade secrets or copyrightable expression doomed its claims.

U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl found that Maxim’s principal, Justin Lewis, had emailed Playboy’s CEO on October 27, 2025, expressing “excitement” about the competitor’s new modeling contest and proposing a partnership, rather than demanding it cease operations.

Maxim, which has run the Maxim Cover Girl Competition since 2018, alleged that Playboy’s Playmate Search misappropriated its trade secrets and infringed its copyrights by copying competition mechanics such as parallel voting tournaments, rolling entry tournaments, and robot voting features.

The court found that the delay in seeking an injunction undermined Maxim’s assertion of irreparable harm, especially given Lewis’s contemporaneous communications proposing that Maxim operate future phases of the Playmate Search.

“Maxim’s delay, coupled with its effort to partner with Playboy rather than stop the Playmate Search, shows that any alleged injury was not so imminent or irreparable as to warrant the extraordinary remedy of a preliminary injunction,” Koeltl wrote.

On the merits, the judge ruled that Maxim could not establish a likelihood of success on its trade secret claims because the competition rules were publicly available and Maxim failed to require participants to sign nondisclosure agreements.

Regarding copyright infringement, Koeltl noted that two of Maxim’s five copyright registrations listed Pacific Digital Industries Inc. as the claimant, raising standing issues. Even for the copyrights Maxim owned, the judge found that the alleged similarities concerned unprotectable ideas and contest mechanics rather than protectable expression.

The court also rejected Maxim’s DMCA, breach of contract, tortious interference, unjust enrichment, and unfair competition claims, finding insufficient evidence that Playboy assented to Maxim’s Terms of Service or that the claims were not preempted by federal copyright law.

Maxim’s motion for a preliminary injunction is denied.