Re:Cease and Desist Using GEN X RADIO Trademark

[pellmell]

According to the United States Copyright and Trademark Office, Clear Channel filed an application to register the term first.

There is no United States Copyright and Trademark Office.

You guys need to brush up on your trademark law. "prior use in commerce" is all that is required in the US to own a trademark. While registration has certain benefits, it is not required in order to maintain rights to a mark. As for what is going on with the USPTO, that is far from a done deal. Stay tuned.

Gen X is exactly right with regard to common law trademark rights. However, what I would be concerned about is CC filing a declaratory judgment action. Such actions make potential plaintiffs into defendants.

In the US, a recipient of a cease-and-desist letter who is placed in a "reasonable apprehension" of litigation may respond through a request for declaratory judgment proceeding in his own jurisdiction.

See Wikipedia and the Declaratory Judgment Act.

 

[jmtillery]

There is no United States Copyright and Trademark Office.

Technically you are correct there is no single entity known as the U. S. Copyright and Trademark Office, but there are two seperate offices dealing with 1) patents and trademarks known as the United States Patent and Trademark Office or USPTO (www.uspto.gov) ; and 2) The United States Copyright Office or simply "Copyright" (www.copyright.gov). I believe anyone who read my comment understood what I was referring in the previous post when I gave reference to it as the United States Copyright and Trademark Office. It was the USTPO site that I had found where Clear Channel Communications had filed an application for registration.

Thank you for providing the links. I'm sure they will be of interest to many readers, including myself.