Sunsauce Foods Industrial Corp., Ltd v. Son Fish Sauce USA Corporation

BACKGROUND

20 Sunsauce is a Thailand-based company that produces and sells Thai-style sauces and 21 related food products. Son Fish Sauce is a California-based company that produces and sells fish 22 sauce in the United States. Sunsauce alleged that Son Fish Sauce’s “SON SAUCE” mark is likely 23 to cause confusion among consumers given Sunsauce’s existing “SUNSAUCE” composite mark, 24 which was registered with the USPTO under Section 44(e) in July 2013 in connection with sauces 25 and related food products (Reg. No. 4,363,095) (“’095 Registration”). 26 Several years after Sunsauce registered its mark with USPTO, Son Fish Sauce applied for a 27 trademark for its SON SAUCE mark (both in word and design form). Its application was denied in 2020 based on the USPTO’s finding of a likelihood of confusion with Sunsauce’s SUNSAUCE mark. Son Fish Sauce thereafter filed a petition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in June 2022 seeking to cancel Sunsauce’s trademark registration on the ground that Sunsauce had either abandoned its mark or failed to adequately use it in the United States. That cancellation proceeding has been stayed pending resolution of this…