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Dennis L. Hall

3033 North Central, Suite 810, Phoenix, Arizona 85012
Scottsdale, AZ, 85254
480.596.4045
Representing Entrepreneurs

Dennis L. Hall

  • Copyright Law
  • Trademark Law
  • Arizona Law
  • Cyber Law
  • Art Law
  • Business Law
  • blogs
  • The Good Employer
  • The Good Mark
  • The Good Trade Secret
  • The Good Connection
  • About
  • Fee Payment
  • Contact

Registration Means Something, But Not Much at Times

November 30, 2012 Dennis Hall
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“[T]rademark or service mark ownership is not acquired by federal or state registration. Rather, ownership rights flow only from prior appropriation and actual use in the market.”

Trademarks are strange. They are, in essence, opportunity. They are the opportunity to associate the producer or provider of a good or service with that product. That association -- a name, figure, sound, logo, or some combination -- becomes "owned" only to the extent that the association is developed.  Service mark ownership is not acquired by federal or state registration. Rather, ownership rights flow only from prior appropriation and actual use in the market. See 1 J. McCarthy, Trademarks and Unfair Competition, § 16:5, at 733 (2d ed. 1984).

Once, an Arizona company who had registered and used the term "HOGIE" for the sandwich tried to prevent 7/11 from using that term.  The Court properly found that administrative approval of registration is not conclusive for establishing the validity of a mark. Hoagie, of course, is generic: it is the good itself, not the association with the producer (names the sound the same are the same for trademark purposes). Raizk v. Southland Corp., 121 Ariz. 497, 591 P.2d 985
(Ariz.App., 1978). And, of course, the rule in trademark is use or lose it.

In Press
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dennis l. hall


Dennis graduated from Indiana and Columbia (75, 77, and 79) in economics, and has taught at several colleges. With a Minnesota law degree (87), Dennis likes all areas of the law that cross with economics: antitrust, unfair competition, trade practices, copyright, trademark, damages.

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