Understanding the Statute of Limitations for Trademark Infringement Claims in Texas
Whether you have a registered or unregistered trademark in Texas and believe another party is committed trademark infringement, or if you are facing trademark infringement allegations from another business, it is important to have an experienced Texas trademark lawyer on your side.
One of the more complicated features of trademark infringement claims in Texas (and across the country, for that matter) is that there is no set statute of limitations for trademark infringement cases under federal law. As such, state law typically applies to trademark infringement claims.
What is a Statute of Limitations for Trademark Infringement?
What is the Texas trademark infringement statute of limitations? The statute of limitations refers to the amount of time an individual has to file a lawsuit from the date of the alleged trademark violation. The statute of limitations is a very strict time period. Indeed, once the statute of limitations runs out, the plaintiff is barred from filing a lawsuit in order to seek compensation or another remedy for her losses.
Most trademark infringement cases arise under the Lanham Act, which is a federal law. Back in 2011, Texas trademark infringement law changed so that it would be more consistent with federal law when it comes to identifying cases of trademark infringement.
As such, federal cases decided under the Lanham Act can be persuasive in Texas trademark infringement cases. However, regardless of whether you file a claim in federal or state court, you need to understand how the statute of limitations works and how much time you have to file your claim before losing the right to do so.
No Federal Statute of Limitations for Trademark Infringement
In the most basic terms, there is no federal statute of limitations for trademark infringement cases. As such, state law statutes of limitations typically are applied in all trademark infringement claims, regardless of whether they are brought in state or federal court.
When federal courts use the applicable Texas statute of limitations for trademark infringement claims, they look for a statute of limitations for a claim that is most similar to the one being brought under federal law. In the Texas case of Reservoir, Inc. v. Truesdell (2013), the court recognized that the “most analogous Texas statute of limitations for a Lanham Act claim is the four-year statute of limitations applied to fraud claims.”
Indeed, the court in Mary Kay, Inc. v. Weber (2009) underscored that, “in Texas, a Lanham Act violation is governed by the four year statute of limitations under Texas law.”
A Texas Trademark Infringement Attorney Can Assist With Your Case
If you are facing a trademark infringement case or believe that another party improperly used your trademark, you may be eligible to file a trademark infringement claim. It is extremely important to ensure that you file your claim within the Texas statute of limitations, or else you can lose your right to file a lawsuit altogether.
A Texas trademark litigation lawyer can assist you. Contact Lindquist Wood Edwards LLP for more information about the services we provide to Texas businesses.