Opinion ID: 217666
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Registration of the MDTV Mark

Text: On October 9, 1998, Medical News Now filed applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to register the marks MDTV and MDTV Medical News Now, both in connection with certain commercial cable television broadcast and entertainment services. The USPTO issued registrations in favor of Medical News Now for the MDTV (No. 2,655,243) and MDTV Medical News Now (No. 3,081,061) marks on December 3, 2002 and April 18, 2006, respectively. Both registrations state that the marks were first used in commerce in January 1998. On September 25, 2000, VOAW filed an application with the USPTO to register the MDTV mark in connection with providing the Arab and Muslim world with periodicals, information and educational services in the field of medicine via radio, television, satellite broadcast and the Internet. The USPTO initially refused VOAW's application, stating that Medical News Now's prior registration stood as a barrier. However, the USPTO later approved VOAW's application and issued a registration (No. 3,497,465) in its favor on September 9, 2008. [2] It is unclear what the reasoning was behind the USPTO's initial rejection and later approval of VOAW's application to register the MDTV mark. Nevertheless, the district court found that Medical News Now's earlier registration has priority.