By the end of this week The Trade Banc, in Federal Court, intends to seek declaratory judgment to cancel Tradebank International’s alleged mark. Courts have many times held that generic terms such as trade and bank are not enforceable as trade marks holding that generic terms cannot be trademarked.
Archive for July, 2010
Lawsuit update
July 27th, 2010Civil suit Tradebank International vs. The Trade Banc
July 20th, 2010The Trade Banc was recently sued by Tradebank International in federal court in Georgia for alleged trademark infringement. The lawsuit is without merit, and we are eager to defend ourselves.
As an initial response, the law provides for a motion to dismiss procedure, which we filed yesterday to challenge the very plausibility of the lawsuit. As spelled out further in our papers, Tradebank International’s alleged mark is not entitled to trademark protection. Numerous courts around the country have held, as a matter of plain law, that marks with generic names like “trade” and “bank” are not entitled to any trademark protection. (See Community First Bank v. Community Banks, 360 F. Supp. 2d 716, 725 (D. Md. 2005) (holding that a party’s marks with the words “community” and “bank” “are generic and not protectable, as a matter of law”).
If Tradebank intends to proceed further with this matter, we intend to file countersuit in a more appropriate federal court in Utah seeking declaratory judgment to cancel Tradebank International’s alleged mark.
Tradebank must be made to understand that we intend to defend ourselves vigorously from this unfounded action. We have already obtained statements from a number of third parties indicating this is developing pattern of conduct on their part — threatening unfounded litigation as a way of intimidating competitors in the barter industry. They should be forced to compete with others in a fair and legal manner.
Newest software users of The Trade Banc
July 11th, 2010We welcome the newest members of The Trade Banc who now use the world’s best barter software.
Barter Now, in Flint MI.
Planet Trade Banc in Sacremento, CA.
Barter-ology in Phoenix, AZ
Sun City Barter in El Paso, TX
