Weiner King, Inc. v. Wiener King Corp.
United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals
615 F.2d 512 (1980)
WKI (plaintiff) began using Weiner King in New Jersey before incorporating in 1967, while WKC (defendant) independently began using the similar mark Wiener King in North Carolina in 1970 without any knowledge of WKI, expanded to ten more restaurants, and obtained federal trademark registrations in 1972 shortly before learning of WKI's prior use; WKC nonetheless continued expanding nationwide. When WKI sought federal registration in 1975 claiming unrestricted use dating to 1962, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board limited WKI to a 15-mile radius around its restaurants and denied it concurrent rights at a since-abandoned Long Beach Island location; WKI appealed.
Whether a later trademark user's mere knowledge of a prior user's existence is sufficient, by itself, to establish that the later user acted in bad faith in expanding its use of the mark.