Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: Concerning Intellectual Property Rights

Trademark protects against confusion as to who actually produces a product. Thus, you can have the same mark for selling cantaloupe and someone else can use it for selling televisions and there isn't going to be a likelihood of confusion. Further, licensing rights can be exclusive or non-exclusive. To determine your rights and responsibilities, you need to know what their claim is based upon, as Mr. Whipple addresses. You also need to determine what licensing rights are being referenced. You have a limited period of time to respond in court after being served and so it important that you seek counsel and get a responsive pleading on file within the required time period. That is your first item of priority! I have some soft IP experience or I have a colleague in the Sacto area if you would like a referral.

Re: Concerning Intellectual Property Rights

Your first priority would be to file responsive pleading. If you are a corporation you must retain an attorney to reprsent the corporation.

Re: Concerning Intellectual Property Rights

Has the suit actually been filed and served on you? If so, in what court? This matter would probably belong in a Federal Court in California, and based on your Zip, probably in the Eastern District court in Sacramento.

As to singling you out to sue, this happens all the time....how do the cops pick me out to stop for speeding when everyone on I-5 is doing 80? You may look more vulnerable than the others, or you are more prominent with ads, or perhaps you have a noticeably higher market share. In any event, the plaintiff can choose its defendant; it doesn't have to go after everyone against which it may have similar gripes.

As to grandfathering, the owner of a famous trademark will argue that it is the one entitled to the protection of grandfather principles. If you didn't register a trademark, your rights are not superior to those of another claimant who also didn't register, but whose use of the mark demonstrably goes back much further. Also that prior user can then register and license the trademark to newbies or whomever they choose. So, I doubt that there is any grandfather concept in trademark law that will help you more than it helps Kalishnikov or whomever they anoint with permission to use their name.

That brings me to another interesting point. I checked the USPTO's Web site for registrations of either AK47 or Kalishnikov. I found several current registrations for both, for items like vodka, leather goods, hunting knives, etc. I didn't find any current registrations for either for guns. I also didn't notice any Indiana addresses for the registered owners or their attorneys. Have you done a check to see what rights the people who are bugging you actually hold? Maybe their case is weak.

Obviously, I would need a lot more information to advise you rather than just make general observations, like above. If you have been served with a lawsuit, bear in mind that you must file a timely answer or other responsive pleading or face losing be default.