Law of Cards: Leaf Escalates Limited Trademark Battle with New Trademark Filing
The Leaf and Panini battle over a LIMITED trademark has expanded.
On March 1, Leaf filed its own trademark application for LEAF LIMITED to compete with Panini's LIMITED trademark application. The information on Leaf's filing is provided below:
| Word Mark | LEAF LIMITED |
| Goods and Services | IC 016. US 002 005 022 023 029 037 038 050. G & S: trading cards. FIRST USE: 20120430. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20120430 |
| Standard Characters Claimed | |
| Mark Drawing Code | (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK |
| Serial Number | 85864443 |
| Filing Date | March 1, 2013 |
| Current Basis | 1A |
| Original Filing Basis | 1A |
| Owner | (APPLICANT) Leaf Trading Cards, LLC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY TEXAS Suite 204 3330 Earnhart Drive Carrollton TEXAS 75006 |
| Attorney of Record | John A. Thomas |
| Prior Registrations | 2914104;3293662 |
| Disclaimer | NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "LIMITED" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN |
| Type of Mark | TRADEMARK |
| Register | PRINCIPAL |
| Live/Dead Indicator | LIVE |
This trademark filing is a shot by Leaf, basically saying, "Hey Panini, if you filed for PANINI LIMITED and only PANINI LIMITED, we would not have an issue. But instead, you're trying to get the word LIMITED for all trading cards. And that's too much."
Notably, the "first use date" provided in this application is April 30, 2012. In other words, Leaf is not relying on prior Leaf Limited products for priority.
In all likelihood, this application will have little effect on Panini and Leaf's other trademark battles. In fact, this filing will likely be stayed pending the result of Leaf's challenge of Panini's LIMITED. Whatever happens there will dictate the ultimate fate for a LEAF LIMITED trademark registration.
Regardless, it is another interesting filing in the recent land grab that trading card manufacturers' find themselves in over trademarks.
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Scott B.
And we’re the losers here as they have to pay for all the legal crap somehow..and that’s with the price of cards