Q: An ex-board member is using my trademark event name without my permission. Do I have standing to issue cease and desist
My family started a public event more than 40 years ago and I took over more than 10 years ago holding this event. I just started the process to trademark the event name. An ex-board member is using the event name and trying to hold the same event without my permission. Do I have standing to send a cease and desist letter to that individual.
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A: If the ex-board member learned of the trademark while being a board member, (and the source of the trademark is the family board) and then the ex-board member started to use the mark unilaterally after leaving the board, then you may have grounds to issue a Cease-and-Desist letter. This may be due to their fiduciary duties as a previous member of the board to act in the best interests of the board rather than priority of use of a trademark. Where you say you have just started the process to trademark the event name, if the board has already used the trademark in commerce of the public event, then the trademark is already attributed to the board, when making comparisons to anywhere else the mark has been used.
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