July 29, 2006

Concurrent use: A new American case

Two parties sought to register the trademark THE COPY CLUB in the US.
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board found that Company A could register it for various document copying, publishing, and management services "for the State of Kansas and that portion of the state of Missouri located within 50 miles of Lenexa, Kansas." Company B could register the sign for similar and overlapping services in all the United States except for the area of A's registration (see John L. Welch's TTABlog for the whole story and cite).
Before the Board, Company B argued there still could be confusion because both parties advertise on the Internet. The Board ruled: "We do not believe that the creation of the Internet has rendered the concurrent use provision of the Trademark Act moot" and "the presence of advertising on the Internet does not automatically preclude concurrent use registration."
The TTAB also noted that Company A has a disclaimer on its website stating that it does business under its trademark only in the restricted States.

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