Opinion ID: 724016
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: First Use and Ownership

Text: 16 Appellants next argue that CIHD never established that it was the first user of the name Committee for Idaho's High Desert, pointing to Randy Morris' testimony at trial that some people used the name as early as 1978, three years before CIHD was incorporated; the testimony suggests that Bruce Boccard, one of CIHD's incorporators and initial directors, was using the name in the pre-incorporation period. Appellants argue that CIHD produced no evidence of CIHD's acquisition of the tradename from the first user. 17 The lack of evidence as to CIHD's acquisition of tradename rights from the first user is irrelevant. Appellants do not challenge the district court's finding that CIHD's continuous use of the name in connection with its business has been exclusive since at least 1980, until [appellants] incorporated under that name on September 14, 1993. 881 F.Supp. at 1466 (emphasis added). As a practical matter, CIHD appears to be the direct and immediate successor of any individuals who used the name between 1978 and 1981. It also seems likely that anyone who used the name before CIHD did has long since legally abandoned the name, since CIHD's use was exclusive between 1980 and 1993. See 15 U.S.C. § 1127 (A mark shall be deemed to be 'abandoned' ... [w]hen its use has been discontinued with intent not to resume such use.... Nonuse for 3 consecutive years shall be prima facie evidence of abandonment.); J. Thomas McCarthy, McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition § 17.03 (3d ed.) (hereinafter McCarthy ). 18 Most importantly, however, a third party's prior use of a trademark is not a defense in an infringement action. A number of cases from the 1920s so hold, including Ward Baking Co. v. Potter-Wrightington, Inc., in which the court wrote that even if, for some purposes and in some territory, [a third party] may have a right in the trade-mark superior to that of the plaintiff, the defendant is not thereby exonerated from responsibility for an attempt to appropriate to itself a good will created by the plaintiff during a long course of business. 298 F. 398, 402 (1st Cir.1924). See also Del Monte Special Food Co. v. California Packing Corp., 34 F.2d 774, 777 (9th Cir.1929) (holding in unfair competition case that whatever may be the respective rights of the appellee and ... other users of the name 'Del Monte,' such use does not justify the appellant in its more recent use of appellee's well-known mark upon a new and different product recently produced by it). This rule is nothing more than the application to the field of trademarks of the familiar real-property doctrine that [p]ossession is title against all the world but the true owner. McCarthy, § 31.39. Modern trial courts have adhered to this rule--see Specialty Measurements, Inc. v. Measurement Systems, Inc., 763 F.Supp. 91, 95 (D.N.J.1991); Bambu Sales, Inc. v. Sultana Crackers, Inc., 683 F.Supp. 899, 909-10 (E.D.N.Y.1988); Marshak v. Sheppard, 666 F.Supp. 590, 599 (S.D.N.Y.1987); Eagle Snacks, Inc. v. Nabisco Brands, Inc., 625 F.Supp. 571, 578-79 (D.N.J.1985)--and a prominent commentator in the field supports it. McCarthy, § 31.39 ([A third-party's rights] should not be allowed as a defense in any trademark case. So long as plaintiff proves rights superior to defendant, that is enough. Defendant is no less an infringer because it is brought to account by a plaintiff whose rights may or may not be superior to the whole world. The plaintiff's speculative dispute with a third party does not concern the defendant.). In accordance with this rule, the question of whether some individuals used the name Committee for Idaho's High Desert prior to CIHD is no defense for appellants given CIHD's continuous and exclusive use of the name for at least 12 years before appellants' use, and the trial court did not err in failing to find that CIHD either was the first user of the name or had acquired ownership from some other first user.