Apple threatens an opposition against Plaintiff’s application for AIRPOD for air purifiers. Plaintiff brings declaratory judgment action against Apple arguing that AIRPOD for its products is not confusingly similar to Apple’s IPOD products. The complaint does not allege that Apple threatened a civil proceeding.
BlueAir v. Apple, Inc., 08 C 427 (ND Illinois Jan 18 2008).
It is not clear whether the filing of a trademark opposition without more gives rise to a declaratory judgment action. See D. Peter Harvey and Seth I Appel, “The Declaratory Judgment Response to a Cease and Desist Letter: ‘First-to-File’ or ‘Procedural Fencing’?,” 96 TMR 639 (May-June 2006).