Also known as: priorities of use · priority-of-use · prior use · prior appropriation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A rule resolving irreconcilable conflicts between separate servitudes granting use rights in the same property. Priority is determined by the order in time of the servitudes' creation unless a later-created servitude takes free under an applicable recording act.
A rule resolving irreconcilable conflicts between separate servitudes granting use rights in the same property. Priority is determined by the order in time of the servitudes' creation unless a later-created servitude takes free under an applicable recording act.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The principle that ownership of a trademark is acquired solely through the first actual use of the mark in the sale of goods or services in commerce rather than by mere invention or registration.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The principle that ownership of a trademark is acquired solely through the first actual use of the mark in the sale of goods or services in commerce rather than by mere invention or registration.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Peter Park granted Prism Analytics an easement across his retained parcel for truck access to a loading dock in 2015. Two years later he granted Prime Logistics a separate easement over the same drive for delivery vehicles. When the routes proved incompatible during peak hours, the court applied priority of use and enforced the 2015 easement first because it was created earlier in time.
When two servitudes conflict irreconcilably, priority of use is determined by the order of creation unless a later servitude takes free of an earlier one under the applicable recording act.
Supporting sources
Priscilla Parks began selling clothing under the mark PERSONS in the United States in April 1982. Phoenix Technologies later adopted the identical mark for similar goods and sought registration. Because Parks had used the mark first in actual sales, the court recognized her superior rights under priority of use and denied Phoenix's claim.
No. Trademark ownership requires the first actual use of the mark in commerce on goods or services. Registration alone does not confer ownership if another party used the mark earlier.
Supporting sources
Priority of use is measured by the first use in the United States. Foreign use alone does not establish rights against a party that begins use in domestic commerce first.
Supporting sources
…of concurrent rights by users in distinct geographic areas if the subsequent user adopted the mark without knowledge of prior use. See Hanover Star Milling Co. v. Metcalf , 240 U. S. 403, 415-416 (1916) (describing pre-Lanham Act law). Similarly, § 14 cuts off certain grounds for cancellation five years after…