The Junior User’s Playbook: Using and Claiming a Trademark a Competitor Already Uses But Has Not Registered

It is one of the more common questions a trademark practitioner fields at the start of a brand launch: “We found the name we want to use, but somebody else is already using it — and they never registered it. Are we blocked? Surprisingly, the answer is oftentimes “not necessarily.

       

It is one of the more common questions a trademark practitioner fields at the start of a brand launch: “We found the name we want to use, but somebody else is already using it — and they never registered it. Are we blocked? Surprisingly, the answer is oftentimes “not necessarily.