At the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Peter Lattman describes "a bubbling trademark spat" between the Hammer Museum in Haines, Alaska, and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles:
"The Alaska Hammer, created in 2000, is dedicated to the oldest human tool .... The museum took in $8,104 in revenue last year (half from T-shirt sales). The L.A. Hammer, the renowned fine-art musuem formerly known as the Armand Hammer Museum of Art, dropped the 'Armand' and now calls itself the Hammer Museum. In 2006, it booked about $10 million in sales. Last year, the L.A. Hammer applied to trademark the name .... When Dave Pahl, the founder of the Alaska museum, found this out this past summer, he filed his own trademark application .... Both applications are pending at the U.S. PTO."
Law professor Eric Goldman is quoted as saying the two can coexist with the same name if the PTO determines there is no likelihood of confusion.
UPDATE: Professor Bainbridge has the backstory on the L.A. Hammer.
