Seattle Trademark Lawyer

I spent my undergraduate days at a Catholic college in aptly named Collegeville, Minnesota, where Minnesota Public Radio was founded. Therefore, I was more interested than perhaps most Seattle-based trademark lawyers to learn that MPR had brought suit against another radio station for alleged infringement of MPR’s trademark, THE CURRENT. MPR, home of Garrison Keilor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” radio show, filed suit at the end of last year in the District of Minnesota against Virginia Beach Educational Broadcast Foundation, Inc., d/b/a Positive Hit Radio The Current, based on Positive Hit Radio’s alleged use of THE CURRENT and CURRENT FM trademarks in connection with radio services. MPR’s false designation of origin, cybersquatting, unfair competition, and common law trademark infringement claims are based on MPR’s alleged ownership of THE CURRENT, LIVE CURRENT, CROSS CURRENTS, THE CURRENT HOOTENANNY, and THE CURRENT FAKEBOOK trademarks, and the parties’ alleged competition for radio consumers in Minnesota and elsewhere through the Internet. This came to my attention because the case was transferred to the Eastern District of Virginia on convenience grounds on October 4.

This isn’t earthshaking news, but it nonetheless strikes me as an interesting example of how the Internet has changed what used to be an inherently local service into one that is provided nationally and internationally. Ten or twelve years ago, I can’t imagine that MPR would care if a radio station in Virginia ripped off its trademark, if that’s indeed what happened here. Now, I can see MPR’s point. It will be interesting to see how the court analyzes likelihood of confusion in this situation. One development of interest is that at the time MPR filed its complaint, none of its trademarks was federally registered. Since that time, however, THE CURRENT has matured into Reg. No. 3301681. Since it was filed on an intent-to-use basis, MPR will have a priority date of December 6, 2004, the date on which it filed the application. If Positive Hit Radio did not make use of THE CURRENT until after March 19, 2005, when it registered currentfm.com, then MPR would have a new, stronger claim and priority to boot.

The case cite is Minnesota Public Radio v. Virginia Beach Educational Broadcast Foundation Inc., No. 06-4667 (D. Minn.) and No. 07-431 (E.D. Va.).