Judicial estoppel ;
A legal doctrine whereby a party is bound by prior judicial declarations which cannot be contradicted in subsequent proceedings involving the same issues and parties. Where a party’s pleadings, statements or contentions taken under oath adopt a particular position in one proceeding, that party is estopped from adopting an inconsistent position in a later proceeding.
Junior user :
The second or subsequent user of a mark who may or may not have rights in the mark depending whether the mark is being used in the same territory as the senior (first) user. The senior user of a mark has rights superior to all others, and can generally exclude others from using their mark. However, a junior user may still have rights in the mark if the junior user is using the mark in a different territory than the senior user, or the junior user registers the mark federally prior to the senior user. If the junior user registers first, then the junior user obtains nationwide priority, and can exclude all uses of the mark except the senior user’s use of the mark in the senior user’s own territory.
Jurisdiction :
Jurisdiction is the power of a court to inquire into facts, apply the law, make decisions, and declare a judgment. This power is typically determined by the locale of the events leading to a lawsuit, but may also be determined based on other factors, with primary attention always paid to fairness to the party being haled to court. One of the first defenses a trademark defendant may utilize is the lack of jurisdiction by the court demanding the defendant’s attention. If defendant succeeds in a motion to dismiss based on lack of proper jurisdiction, the plaintiff can generally bring the same lawsuit to a different court and start all over.
