US-CA9 · jury_instructions
9th Cir. Model Jury Instr. (Civil) 15.14
Infringement—Elements—Ownership—Priority Through Tacking
Rights in a trademark are determined by the date of the mark’s first use in commerce. The party who first uses a mark in commerce is said to have priority over other users, and the [plaintiff [name]] [defendant [name]] asserts that [his] [her] [other pronoun] mark has priority through the doctrine of “tacking.” Tacking recognizes that trademark users ought to be permitted to make certain modifications to their marks over time without losing priority.
Tacking is available when the original and revised marks are “legal equivalents” in that they create the same, continuing commercial impression without material differences between them so that consumers would consider them the same mark. In other words, viewing the marks in context and in their entirety, an ordinary purchaser could perceive them as conveying the same idea or meaning.
Provenance
- Source
- ce9.uscourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-20
- Edition
- 2026-08-20
- Content hash
9214a70c0376b45e94f1eace591c4cd77777435dc472048293780e5eb7cbb191
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