[E-trademarks] Junior User Filing Federal Registration with Existing Senior Common Law User

Sat Jul 19 18:11:23 UTC 2025

Coming for the bigfoot, staying for the franchise law.

Cheers,

Sam Castree, III

*Sam Castree Law, LLC*
*3421 W. Elm St.*
*McHenry, IL 60050*
*(815) 344-6300*

On Sat, Jul 19, 2025 at 9:26 AM Tom Vanderbloemen via E-trademarks <
e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com> wrote:

> If anyone is interested in concurrent use (or Bigfoot sightings), feel
> free to check out the article Vince Frantz and I wrote for the ABA’s *Franchise
> Law Journal* – scroll to page 215:
> https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/franchising_law_journal/franchiselawfall21.pdf
>
>
>
> __________________________
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>
> Tom Vanderbloemen
> Vanderbloemen Law Firm, P.A.
> 330 East Coffee Street
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> *From: *E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> on behalf
> of Davis, Ted via E-trademarks <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
> *Date: *Friday, July 18, 2025 at 7:09 PM
> *To: *For trademark practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek
> legal advice. <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>, Annette Heller <
> tmattorneyheller at aol.com>
> *Cc: *Davis, Ted <TDavis at ktslaw.com>, ericab at ebmediate.com <
> ericab at ebmediate.com>
> *Subject: *Re: [E-trademarks] Junior User Filing Federal Registration
> with Existing Senior Common Law User
>
>                 “[I]n concurrent use proceedings in which neither party
> owns a registration for the mark, the starting point for any determination
> as to the extent to which the registrations are to be territorially
> restricted should be . . . that the prior user is prima facie entitled to a
> registration covering the entire United States.” *In re Beatrice Foods Co*.,
> 429 F.2d 466, 474 (C.C.P.A. 1970). This means that “[a]s a general rule, a
> prior user of a mark is entitled to a registration covering the entire
> United States limited only to the extent that the subsequent user can
> establish that no likelihood of confusion exists and that it has concurrent
> rights in its actual area of use, plus its area of natural expansion.” *Pinocchio’s
> Pizza, Inc. v. Sandra, Inc., *11 U.S.P.Q.2d 1227, 1228–29 (T.T.A.B.
> 1989).  Plus, of course, there are the Board’s periodic suggestions that a
> junior user’s adoption of its mark with knowledge of the senior user’s mark
> will disqualify the junior user from receiving a concurrent use
> registration. *See, e.g.*, *Woman's World Shops Inc. v. Lane Bryant Inc.*,
> 5 U.S.P.Q.2d 1985, 1987–88 (T.T.A.B. 1988). It’s possible for a dynamic
> junior user to secure more of the country than a stagnant senior user, *see,
> e.g.*, *Boi Na Braza, LLC v. Terra Sul Corp*., 110 U.S.P.Q.2d 1386, 1394
> (T.T.A.B. 2014) (granting priority of rights to junior user in all but two
> states), but it would be a mistake for that junior user to initiate a
> concurrent use proceeding with the expectation that it necessarily can
> freeze the senior user in place; in the average case, the opposite outcome
> will hold.
>
>
>
>                 Outside the registration context, and depending on the
> jurisdiction, a junior user either adopting, or expanding the use of, its
> mark with knowledge of an unregistered senior user’s confusingly similar
> mark may be subject to at least injunctive relief under the *Tea
> Rose-Rectanus *Doctrine. *Compare Stone Creek, Inc. v. Omnia Italian
> Design, Inc*., 862 F.3d 1131, 1140–43 (9th Cir. 2017) (holding that mere
> knowledge of prior use exposes junior user to liability) *with* *GTE
> Corp. v. Williams*, 904 F.2d 536, 541 (10th Cir. 1990) (requiring bad
> faith adoption of mark by junior user).
>
>
>
> [image: Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP]
> Ted Davis
> TDavis at ktslaw.com
> Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
> 1100 Peachtree Street NE | Suite 2800 | Atlanta, GA 30309-4528
> *T* 404 815 6534 | *M* 404 213 4967 | *F* 404 541 3172
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> Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
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> My Profile <http://www.ktslaw.com/en/People/D/DavisTheodoreH>| vCard
> <http://www.ktslaw.com/vcard/TheodoreH.Davis.vcf>
>
>
>
> *From:* E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> *On Behalf
> Of *Janet Satterthwaite via E-trademarks
> *Sent:* Friday, July 18, 2025 5:03 PM
> *To:* e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com; e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com;
> Annette Heller <tmattorneyheller at aol.com>
> *Cc:* Janet Satterthwaite <jsatterthwaite at potomaclaw.com>;
> ericab at ebmediate.com
> *Subject:* Re: [E-trademarks] Junior User Filing Federal Registration
> with Existing Senior Common Law User
>
>
>
> I assume the junior user adopted in good faith and was unaware of the
> senior remote user at the time of adoption. I have seen done something
> similar, claiming in the declaration that the applicant knows of no prior
> rights holder except possibly
>
> I assume the junior user adopted in good faith and was unaware of the
> senior remote user at the time of adoption.
>
>
>
> I have seen  done something similar, claiming in the declaration that the
> applicant knows of no prior rights holder except possibly x county,  but if
> you want to lock down the junior user's right to expand, I think you have
> to file a concurrent use application, which gets litigated  before the
> TTAB. Then you lock in the senior user's footprint and you get the
> presumptive right to the rest of the country. They can come in and litigate
> the extent of their footprint, so there would be discovery etc.
>
>
>
>
>
> *Janet F. Satterthwaite*|Partner/ Chair, Trademark Practice|Potomac Law
> Group, PLLC
>
> 1717 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 1025
>
> Washington, D.C. 20006
>
> 202-486-1578
>
> jsatterthwaite at potomaclaw.com|www.potomaclaw.com
>
>
>
> https://www.potomaclaw.com/professionals-janet-f-satterthwaite
>
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> on behalf
> of Annette Heller via E-trademarks <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
> *Sent:* Friday, July 18, 2025 4:55 PM
> *To:* e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>;
> e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
> *Cc:* Annette Heller <tmattorneyheller at aol.com>; ericab at ebmediate.com <
> ericab at ebmediate.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [E-trademarks] Junior User Filing Federal Registration
> with Existing Senior Common Law User
>
>
>
> *WARNING:* External email, do not click on links or open attachments
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> If the junior user is aware of the senior user and where they are using
> the mark, then when the junior user files the application, the junior user
> sets out the area it is not claiming rights to and list the other party
> information.
>
>
>
> That is what I have done in the past.
>
>
>
> Annette
>
>
>
> Annette P. Heller
> Trademark/Copyright Attorney
> TM Law & Associates
> 400 Chesterfield Center Ste 400
> Chesterfield [St Louis] MO 63017
>
> www.TrademarkAtty.com
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.trademarkatty.com_&d=DwMFaQ&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=BD_ODyCnGyM4QYkJS4ogIYzIigAHSpBLLoEgzCd9OOE&m=MP8vYj8B1f05BsU2H22nWPy0Cj-p7cU3DV7CsEIoFk4VOVV_qLLx9XgjARl4mZHP&s=LqTUyud1xR0d7vzNcjqikidAWUufw5eG4-QfMMynRmw&e=>
>
> 314-469-2610 Fax 314-469-4850
>
>
>
> In a message dated 7/18/2025 3:51:36 PM Central Daylight Time,
> e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com writes:
>
>
>
> Can someone remind me of the rule that allows a junior user to file a
> federal registration even if there is an existing senior common law user,
> where the senior’s use is in just 1 or 2 states? I assume the registration
> is subject to the senior user’s geographic common law rights. Must the
> junior user be *unaware* of the senior user when filing the application,
> or the junior user can be aware, but just refrain from infringing the
> senior user’s common law rights in the senior’s geographic area?  Can the
> senior user try to cancel the junior’s registration, or just enforce its
> geographic common law rights?  Thanks!
>
>
>
> Erica Bristol, Esq., Mediator
>
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> www.ebmediate.com
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