T-Mobile US reportedly faces a court battle over an alleged infringement of a Simply Wireless trademark dating back a decade after an appeals judge overturned a previous decision in favour of the big hitter.
Bloomberg Law reports the appeals court ruling means T-Mobile must now face a full trial over the trademark spat.
The dispute centres on the use of the trademark Simply Prepaid, which Simply Wireless employed between 2002 and 2008, but then was adjudged to have abandoned between 2009 and 2011.
Court documents reveal Simply Wireless began using the mark again in 2012, but T-Mobile also moved to employ it from 2014, when it sought to register the name with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
A court battle ensued in 2021 when Simply Wireless filed a civil action alleging the tier-one operator infringed its common-law ownership of the trademark, with an original summary ruling going T-Mobile’s way.
However, an appeals court overturned the ruling, in particular an argument Simply Wireless had failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove it had not abandoned the trademark.
Simply Wireless’ owners told the appeals court they never intended to abandon the trademark and presented evidence of their attempts to strike deals which would bring it back into regular use.
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