I started selling apparel with a certain word on it that was trademarked a week or two later by the MLB?

Now they want me to stop selling it. Am I screwed? I wanted to sell "Rocktober" (for Colorado Rockies) apparel online, and I had been selling it, then I was contacted by the MLB and was told to stop, and my online shop was shut down for violating intellectual property rights. I contacted the person who accused me of violating those rights, and he told me to "be advised that the Colorado Rockies own the mark ROCKTOBER". But I looked up the trademark, and they filed for it AFTER I had been selling my apparel. Am I screwed, or is there anything I can do since I started selling before they got the trademark? You can't put trademarks on someone elses idea, you know? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

If you can prove you were using it before they filed, you have a claim. Unfortunately, they'll probably be able to enforce their trademark, but you should get some compensatory damages due to loss of business.

You need an attorney, if it is worth fighting over. An intellectual property attorney is not cheap.

I am not an attorney, but if you were selling something before they trade-marked it, it would be customary to offer you a lump sum to stop doing selling. That's what happened to a friend of mine in Scotland. He had a business in Scotland which, it turned out, was the same name as one in England. The English business was larger and offered him a substantial sum of money to change his business' name.

Sounds like it would be easy to prove. Attourney it up

You may have a shot. If you have REALLY dead on proof that you were using it before they were you may actually have a counterclaim against them. All you need is an attorney who handles trademark litigation & the money to pay his retainer.

That is why you should have trademarked it before hand.

I bet they didn't ask you for any money for the time before they trademarked it, only sent you a cease and desist, because it is afer the trademark that they care about.

Anyway, Rocktober is probably trademarked for other purposes too - certain radio station formats have been using the phrase for over 20 years IIRC.

Next time, trademark your terms first.

If this is something you think you can do and is going to be lucrative, then hire a trademark attorney as a business expense, just like you have to buy the shirts and get them printed.

Otherwise chalk it up to a learning experience.

I'm sorry. I think that you put the cart before the horse. I doesn't matter if you were, "selling" the merchandise with your original design, you should have trade marked the logo before you started selling it. If you had an application in and the trade mark was pending, you would have a shot in court. But if you never attempted to protect your intellectual property then I'm afraid that you are out of luck. Remember the smilely face shirt on Forrest Gump? Some else saw it and took advantage of the opportunity.