Cuban Cigar Company Sues Michigan Cigar Shop

[MarkinAZ]

Originally Posted by TheRiddick

Operating under a name establishes your "trademark" whether you filed for one or not. It doesn't make much effort to prove to courts that you have been operating under Name X for 30 years and no matter if someone else just opened and trade marked the name, the name is still yours and your customers know you under that name. Whether you filed for a trademark or not, you used it first. It will cost you to fight it, but you'll win (and may counter sue to recoup your legal costs as well)....

That is exactly the direction I was thinking of, in that Mr. Houmani has been using the name "La Casa De La Habana" for the last 10 years, and has established precedent and/or ownership and use of the business name.

I'm sure if we have some BOTL's/SOTL's who's JD and expertise is in this area, some case law would be interesting for them to provide here on this thread...

La Casa De La Habana translates to "The House of Havana" and La Casa del Habano tranlates to "The House of the Havana Cigar."