Opinion ID: 333820
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Validity is in Issue

Text: 7 Plaintiff argues that the validity of its mark was not in issue before the trial court and that it was improper for the trial court to address the issue in its opinion. Plaintiff relies on a stipulation entered before trial which stated that plaintiff's registrations were in full force; on the statement of issues, which were part of the pretrial order; and on defendants' proposed findings of facts and conclusions of law, which contained no finding of invalidity. 8 The stipulation is of little help to plaintiff. That a registration is in force is not necessarily inconsistent with the invalidity of a trademark, for example, where the trademark has become a generic term. At most the stipulation is ambiguous. We are, however, troubled by the failure to include the question of validity in the statement of issues in the pretrial order. Invalidity is, of course, a defense to an infringement action. If the defendants wished to rely on it, it should have been a part of the statement of issues. On the other hand, remarks during trial, at least by defendants' counsel, indicate that validity, was in issue. The trial judge concluded that it was in issue. 9 Having carefully considered these factors, we conclude that we must face the issue of invalidity. Plaintiff may or may not have been prejudiced before the district court if counsel did not adequately brief or argue the validity of the trademark because he did not view it as in issue; nevertheless, counsel has not shown this court that it was prejudiced because evidence was not introduced which would have been had counsel believed validity was in issue. The legal issues have been fully briefed before this court.