Non-Use of Camper Trademark Raised Even if Not Plead, Board Says

A company seeking to ax a Kimberley Kampers trademark registration will get a chance to argue non-use despite not pleading it as grounds for cancellation, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board said.

Australian company Kimberley Kampers IP Pty. Ltd. had made claims that Safiery Pty. Ltd. didn’t own trademark rights in the Kimberley Kampers mark it registered four years ago and that it had already abandoned the mark. But while denying summary judgment on those grounds, the board said in a precedential ruling Wednesday that the pleadings raised the question of non-use at the time of Safiery’s application, which would ...