Intellectual Property Law

X On Wireless Cries Uncle, Abandons Mark and Settles with Exxon Mobil

By Michael Atkins

STL readers may recall that Exxon Mobil Corp. sued X On Wireless Corp. in the Western District for trademark infringement last year. This year, the parties settled.

On Feb. 24, the parties filed a Consent Judgment memorializing X On Wireless’ agreement not to resume any use of its now-abandoned X ON mark. The judgment permanently enjoins X On from using any mark, name, word, term, or domain name that incorporates “X ON.”

So why did X On Wireless adopt X ON as its trademark in the first place? To trade on Exxon’s goodwill is my guess. Why else would it adopt a sound-alike to Exxon’s famous, fanciful mark?

The case cite is Exxon Mobil Corp. v. X On Wireless Corp., No. 08-5652 (W.D. Wash. Feb. 24, 2009).

Full post as published by Seattle Trademark Lawyer on March 03, 2009 (boomark / email).