How Coexistence Agreements Work
Anderson Duff, writing for Revision Legal, discusses coexistence agreements, which are contracts whereby two trademark owners agree to use their similar marks, but agree to limitations.
“The purpose of the coexistence agreement is to set out the agreement of the disputing trademark owners about use of the marks,” he explains. “Most often, the coexistence agreement will limit the use of the similar marks to certain geographical territories or to certain types of good or products.”
He discusses the historic coexistence contract involving the trademarks “Sun-Maid” and “Sun-Kist.”
The article also explains the importance of careful drafting of coexistence agreements.