Tillamook Country Smoker, Inc. v. Tillamook County Creamery Ass'n

The Tillamook County Creamery Association, the maker of the Tillamook brand of cheese for nearly a hundred years, has a beef with a company called Tillamook Country Smoker, a purveyor of smoked meats and jerky. In 1976, Tillamook Country Smoker began selling its meat products under its name. The cheese people had actual knowledge of Tillamook Country Smoker’s activities, but never said a word. Not only that, the cheese folks even sold Tillamook Country Smoker’s products in its own gift shop and in its mail-order catalog.

Twenty-five years later, when Tillamook Country Smoker began selling its meat snacks in supermarkets, the cheese people for the first time claimed trademark infringement and sought to enjoin the meat people from making any further use of the Tillamook Country Smoker name. The cheese people explain their quarter-century delay in taking action against Tillamook Country Smoker by contending that they are victims of “progressive encroachment.” The district court ruled that the cheese people are barred by laches. We agree.

I. Background

The Tillamook County Creamery Association (“Creamery”) is a 150-member dairy cooperative in the city of Tillamook in Til-lamook…