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Hey, That's My Descriptive Trademark!

On March 21, Evan Conklin Plumbing and Heating Inc. filed a trademark infringement suit in the Western District against Chaz Timblin.

Both parties are plumbing companies. From Seattle.

Plaintiff calls itself “Seattle Plumbing Company.” Defendant’s company calls itself “Seattle Plumbing and Sewer.”

You guessed it: plaintiff’s complaint alleges that “Defendants’ SEATTLE PLUMBING & SEWER is confusingly similar to Plaintiff’s SEATTLE PLUMBING COMPANY mark.”

Plaintiff also alleges its mark is registered on the Supplemental Register and is inherently distinctive. ‘Nuff said.

The case cite is Evan Conklin Plumbing and Heating Inc. v. Timblin, No. 11-483 (W.D. Wash.).

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Registered CommenterMichael Atkins in , | Comments2 Comments

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Reader Comments (2)

Rebecca Tushnet blogged about a case with similar facts. An 1125(a) passing off claim in that case was allowed to go forward even though the court held that plaintiff had no trademark rights in the generic word "Overhead" as used on garage doors. See http://tushnet.blogspot.com/2010/12/copying-generic-mark-could-be-unfair.html

See http://goo.gl/HzJsU for the case.
March 30, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterDan Ballard
I would be interested in TM pros opinions regarding this issue (distinctiveness). I sense I don't have much sympathy here.
I am however willing to debate the issue.
April 8, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterEvan Conklin (Plaintiff )

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