Bacardi's 'Untameable' Rum Pillaged Rival's TM, 9th Circ. Told

A rival liquor maker accusing Bacardi of pirating the concept for its "Untameable" rum campaign urged the Ninth Circuit on Friday to toss a district court's finding that its trademark priority doesn't allow it to introduce a new product and then claim marketplace confusion after Bacardi's alleged infringement began.

During oral arguments, Lodestar Anstalt's attorney, G. Warren Bleeker of Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP told the three-judge panel that a California federal judge erred when she denied summary judgment, arguing that trademark law gives a registered mark owner a number of years to develop a product, so that if another company infringes the mark, the owner can still protect its intellectual property.

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