Chance

I.

In this appeal, we must determine when a service mark is first used in commerce under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1127 . Allen Chance, d/b/a/ T.A.B. Systems (“T.A.B.”), claims first use of the service mark “TeleTrak” in connection with T.A.B.’s lost and found tag service. Pac-Tel Teletrac, Inc. and related entities (collectively “Pac-Tel”) claim priority of use in connection with their radio frequency based system for tracking fleet vehicles and recovering lost or stolen vehicles. The district court entered summary judgment in favor of Pac-Tel, finding that Pac-Tel’s free services to the Los Angeles County Office of Education (“LACOE”) in April 1990 constituted first use. We conclude that Pac-Tel’s first use of the mark was even earlier than that found by the district court, and clearly pre-dated T.A.B.’s first use. Accordingly, we affirm the entry of summary judgment.

II.

As early as 1984, Pac-Tel’s predecessor in interest, North American Teletrac (“NAT”) began developing a radio-frequency based system for tracking fleet vehicles and recovering lost or stolen vehicles. In 1985, NAT acquired the necessary frequency licenses from the Federal Communications Commission. In…