Court tackles tricky issue of tacking trademark rights

Description

Abstract: When trademark rights are contested, a party might turn to “tacking” to establish that it made first use of the mark and thereby has senior rights to that mark. Tacking allows a trademark owner to claim priority in a mark based on the first use date of a similar, but technically distinct, mark. Courts, however, don’t always buy into this strategy; tacking is allowed in only extremely narrow instances. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently tackled the tricky issue of tacking in a case involving two similar company logos. One Industries, LLC v. Jim O’Neal Distributing, Inc., No. 08-55316, 2009 (9th Cir.)