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It's a fair question, though you don't actually need to register your trademark to "own" it, it just provides some advantages and of course reduces the danger that someone will do what Comodo did.

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If Comodo would have actively used "Letsencrypt" as a brand paired with Comodo's registration this case would be crystal clear: Letsencrypt wouldn't own anything.

With the situation now, it's debatable but saying that a trademark 'just provides some advantages' is a bit of an understatement.

That's a bit oversimplified. If LE had used the mark first, and had taken the measure of asking Comodo to stop using it, that would show them protecting their trademark, which would give them a case. The PTO is quite clear that registration is not required for a trademark to be enforceable.

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