Legal Question in Business Law in California

The question and the ideal answer are a little too fact-dependent to be fully answerable without full information. However, in general, the companies may not have any rights against one another, and may have to coexist within the territory where the earlier but unregistered use was widespread before the later but registered user came along.

Similar business names cannot infringe, unless both of them are also used as trademarks (marks), in which case the first in use is the first in right, regardless of registration, unless the registered mark has become "incontestable", i.e. after a mark has been registered for at least five years, the mark owner may file a declaration, which will state that the mark has been registered for five years and has been continually used by the owner during that five year period. After this declaration is filed, the mark automatically becomes �incontestable.�