united-states trademark
Can a trademark be enforced if a different company was already using it?
<p>Lets say that I own &quot;Iron Chimpanzee LLC&quot; and have been selling furniture with it in Florida for years. I never got a trademark. One day, a guy in Alaska decides to open a new furniture store in Alaska with the same name, &quot;Iron Chimpanzee LLC&quot;, and trademarks &quot;Iron Chimpanzee&quot; at the federal level.</p>
<p>Can he sue me the next day for infringing on his trademark?</p>

<p>You would have priority in the market in which you developed the scope of your common law trademark, although the geographic and market scope would be hard to establish without registration and you would have to overcome a presumption in favor of the federal trademark holder in litigation.</p>
