Domain and corporate name do not allege use for Lanham Act purposes
Thursday, January 7th, 2010Beijin Tong Ren Tang v. TRT United States Corp., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 261 (N.D. Cal. 2010)
Only a portion of this decision deals with trademark issues- defendant counter-claimed claiming unfair competition, false designation or origin and false advertising based on defendant’s trademark rights. However, the complaint did not sufficiently allege priority of use because the only facts given were that defendant used the name as a corporate name and registered a domain name. Because this does not constitute use without a connection to specific goods, it is not a sufficient allegation of use for a Lanham Act claim. The court granted leave to amend.
