An affirmative defense to trademark infringement. Misuse occurs when the trademark owner uses the mark in violation of the law, such as canceling a trademark license on the basis of illegal discrimination. Some legal scholars have also suggested that the misuse of a trademark should result in cancellation of a trademark registration where the trademark holder uses the registration to invoke Internic's domain dispute policy when there is no valid argument for actual trademark infringement by the domain name owner. However, the US Patent and Trademark Office has never canceled a mark yet based on trademark use. Nonetheless, cancellation of patents and copyrights have occurred based on misuse, and it may be a matter of time before a similar precedent is set in trademark law.
