Intellectual Property Law

NWA Claims Spokane Company's Use of "Northwest" Infringes Its Rights

By Michael Atkins

Northwest Airlines, Inc. (now a subsidiary of Delta Airlines, Inc.), has challenged a Spokane, Wash.-based online travel guide’s use of GO NORTHWEST! as a trademark.

The travel guide publisher, Go Northwest, LLC, obtained a federal registration for its mark last year, claiming it has used the mark in commerce since 1999.

Northwest Airlines claims Go Northwest’s use infringes its trademark rights by creating a likelihood of confusion with its NORTHWEST and NORTHWEST AIRLINES registered marks, which Northwest Airlines claims it has used since 1926.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Aerospace News blog first reported on the dispute on Aug. 6 and ran a follow-up post on Aug. 7. (Kudos to the short-staffed, scrappy, now exclusively online paper for running the story. Two weeks ago, it did trademark law followers a similar favor by reporting on the Smith-Starbucks trade dress dispute.) 

Northwest Airlines apparently acted in response to Go Northwest’s application to register its mark in the United Kingdom and Australia, saying it also recently discovered Go Northwest’s U.S. registration. The airline initially demanded that Go Northwest abandon its application to register its mark in those countries, voluntarily cancel its United States registration, and stop any and all use of its mark, but later scaled back its demands somewhat.

Go Northwest so far has rejected the airline’s demands, pointing to the ten-years the parties arguably have coexisted without consumer confusion. For those wanting to read the blow-by-blow, The P-I’s posts link to the letters the parties’ lawyers have exchanged.

Considering all this, it seems to me: (1) Northwest Airlines doesn’t have a monopoly on the descriptive use of “Northwest,” particularly by a company located in the Northwest; (2) it seems that if confusion were indeed likely, Go Northwest would have been on NWA’s radar screen a long time ago; (3) if it turns out that NWA has known about Go Northwest’s use of its mark for the last ten years, it’s going to have a hard time overcoming the doctrine of laches; and (4) it seems silly that NWA is causing a ruckus about its NORTHWEST trademarks now when it appears to be phasing out use of those marks following its merger with Delta. Indeed, I was hard-pressed to find prominent use of the marks on NWA’s own Web site.

As a final observation, now that lawyer letters routinely make it into the media, lawyers consciously need to write for at least two audiences — the recipient, and the public. Neither lawyer was jerky in this case, but you can imagine the damage that a lawyer’s rudeness easily could cause his or her client. That’s not a bad thing. I’m all for giving lawyers extra incentive to act professionally — if not like decent human beings. 

Full disclosure: I am still bitter about NWA’s abruptly cancelling my flight home to Seattle on my way back from last year’s INTA meeting in Berlin, stranding me in Amsterdam and putting me up in a borderline-dangerous truck stop motel 30 miles from the airport, and then cancelling my second flight home the next day. For purposes of completeness, NWA also lost my luggage — again in Amsterdam — during another return flight. Dispute these disturbing incidents, I’ve done my best to remain neutral in writing this post. Seriously.

Full post as published by Seattle Trademark Lawyer on August 10, 2009 (boomark / email).