Nasalok Coating Corp. v. Nylok Corp.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
522 F.3d 1320 (Fed. Cir. 2008)
Nylok Corporation (defendant) held a federally registered trademark for a blue-patched self-locking fastener and sued Nasalok Coating Corporation (plaintiff), a Korean manufacturer of similar fasteners, and four other companies for infringement, obtaining a default judgment against Nasalok that validated the trademark; rather than appeal, Nasalok separately petitioned the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the Board) to cancel Nylok's trademark as invalid and fraudulently obtained. The Board granted Nylok summary judgment, and Nasalok appealed to the Federal Circuit.
Whether, in a trademark infringement lawsuit, a claim of trademark invalidity is a compulsory counterclaim that will be waived if not filed.