Posted: August 13th, 2022

Dogco sued Fido alleging that he committed trademark infringement

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Facts: Dogco sued Fido alleging that he committed trademark infringement. In his defence, Fido alleges that he has the priority in legal claims to the “Walk Your Dog Like a Dawg!” slogan. Fido goes on to further allege that Dogco lacks priority to “Walk Your Dog Like a Dawg!” since the company did not achieve secondary meaning when Fido filed his intention of utilizing the application. More so, Fido claims that no application was made to the USPTO by Dogco. However, Dogco believes that it has priority because it used “Walk Your Dog Like a Dawg” first to sell its products online. Also, according to Dogco, the “Walk Your Dog Like a Dawg!” slogan is suggestive and not descriptive; this alone makes it to qualify for protection by a trademark devoid of the need for secondary meaning.
Issue: Does Fido have priority in legal claims to the “Walk Your Dog Like a Dawg!” slogan? Is the “Walk Your Dog Like a Dawg!” slogan suggestive?
Rule: “Priority of trademarks is given to a party that shows the first utilization of the trademark in commerce. Marks are perceived to be suggestive and hence automatically protected if they are innately unique meaning that their inner nature serves to recognize a certain source of a product.”
Application: If I were a judge in this case, I would apply the law to the facts as follows:
Fido’s filing of an intent to use application for the trademark “Make America’s Dog training leashes Great Again!” with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) made the slogan suggestive. Therefore, there is no need for secondary meaning. The party that sold the product under the trademark name has the priority in legal claims to the slogan. Digco was able to first sell the product online under the trademarked slogan in October 2014. Fido sold its first product in November the same year.
Conclusion: Based on the above, I would choose to side with Digco.