Upon receipt of the letter, Joe’s investigated the claims and determined that it allegedly began using the Brixton trademark approximately one year before Defendant’s date of first use. And because neither party registered the trademark with the USPTO, the case is going to boil down to which party used the mark first. Joe’s alleges that it responded to Defendant’s counsel and put Defendant on notice that Joe’s was the senior user of the mark and, in an instant, the hunter became the hunted. As a result, Joe’s now alleges that Defendant’s use of the Brixton trademark constitutes willful and intentional infringement. Pamela Chestek blogs here about other parties battling over senior use and ownership of the Protech mark. The case is Joe’s Jeans, Inc. v. Brixton Ltd, LLC, CV 09-04753 DSF (C.D. Cal. 2009).
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