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[shane]

I'm so glad I found this forum, I have a rather serious trademark issue on hand and I'm a young entrepreneur without a ton of money to drop into raw litigation.  I do have a couple friends that are lawyers and I'm a fast learner, its just that I live in a town where there are no trademark lawyers (to take to lunch) and I'm having trouble figuring out a fair strategy for an opposition that I'm about to embark on. 

[JSonnabend]

Well, if the name of the town is "Wiptop", and your business name, for your business located in "Wiptop", is "Wiptop", then you likely have a very weak position.  Geographic names are not unprotectable as trademarks per se, but gaining protection can be difficult and protection can be very narrow.  The same would hold true for "Westobou", for example, assuming it is a geographic name.

If you search the forums, you'll find other discussions on this point.

- Jeff

[shane]

Gotcha.  How did you figure it out? Sneaky Jeff. Also its not a common term, its term that some indians used for only 20 years back in the 1800's before they were butchered.

I hunted through most of the posts with the word "opposition" in it.  I didn't find much besides "get an attorney". I currently have one but he's working on the lawsuit and I figured I would consider filing the opposition on my own.  I helped to form the case outline and I have some idea of what to say.  I know everyone wants my dollars, but I was thinking that I could pick up some good ideas for the main statement in the intitial part of the opposition. How much to share, whether to state examples, any strategies you would share to a young person that wouldn't give away the bag of tricks for winning one of these.  If you think you could win it Jeff, or you could make it much easier to win, then I'd certainly be interested in your help.

[JSonnabend]

What is your basis for opposing?  Is it strictly likelihood of confusion?  Your first step is to think through that argument and figure out what you can show to support that conclusion.  The mere fact that you were using the mark first is not enough.

- Jeff

[bcapehart]

Shane:

One thing to keep in mind about oppositions is that they only deal with the registration of a mark.  It is not a type of action that is concerned with damages.  Damages are only in perview of the courts.  Also, if you have a both a lawsuit and an opposition pending, chances are the opposition would be suspended pending the outcome of the lawsuit.  In fact, such a result (suspension of the opposition) is not always a bad thing as the status quo is maintained in that the application would not result in a registration until after the lawsuit has been concluded.

Hope this helps.
Brent