If I Trademark My Name Can Someone Else Use It – Read the article to know the process and conditions of using a trademarked name without permission.
But before that, do you want to know if someone has already protected your company name? Read this blog for a step-by-step guide and 4 free tools to check the availability of your business name.
If I Trademark My Name Can Someone Else Use It
You can have the same trademark as someone else only if the services and products offered under the two marks are different. See this table for clarification.
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On the other hand, if the two items are unrelated and unlikely to be interchanged, trademark law will not prevent both companies from using the same name. In other words, if the same name is registered in multiple trademark classes, it is not infringing.
Did you know that two companies can have the same name? Yes, no violation. It is also possible like this.
Suppose a company in Texas sells shells and unique stones under the trademark “Letters from the Sea.” There is a company in Texas with the same trademark that offers scuba diving lessons. These two companies are completely different. While the former is product-oriented, the latter is service-oriented. So, if there is no likelihood of consumer confusion, there is no problem of trademark infringement.
Continuing with the same example, a company offering a shell in India under the same brand name, “Letters from the Seas”, will not cause any confusion as the target audience is geographically different.
Soundcloud Tells Guy It Needs To Kill His Account Of 8 Years Because Someone Else Trademarked His Name
So if you’re wondering “Can I use a trademarked name for another product?”, the answer is yes. You can use the trademark name for different products or services or even for identical products or services in other geographic registration locations.
Note: In the case of the European Union, you can register a Community trade mark to do business in all EU countries and prevent infringement in all EU countries. Here’s a complete guide to getting a community trademark.
Different enough not to cause confusion among consumers between the two brands and their products or services.
Copyright on a logo requires that its design be distinctive, meaning that it must not appear similar to any other design and that colors, fonts, lines and other elements must be arranged in a unique manner.
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When someone distributes, copies, or presents a copyrighted work without the owner’s consent, it is copyright infringement. Also, one of the most common forms of infringement occurs when an entity attempts to use a logo that resembles or uses similar text to a copyrighted mark. As a result, if a competing logo causes confusion, the owner may be criminally liable for trademark infringement. However, if the same mark is a symbol of vastly different goods or belongs to a company in a different geographical area, there may not be infringement.
If someone else uses your trademark for fair use, there’s not much you can do. But if someone else uses your mark for commercial purposes, you can file a trademark infringement lawsuit. That’s because the USPTO considers it trademark infringement, which means the unauthorized or unauthorized use of a mark to advertise, market, and sell goods and services that can result in:
If someone else uses your mark, it can have serious consequences for your brand and products. A mark essentially forms the identity of your company, and protecting your trademark from any infringement is in the best interest of your brand.
A common question is, has someone trademarked my company name? What shall I do? Or how to start a trademark infringement case?
Why Do I Need To Register A Trade Mark?
If you believe someone has trademarked your company name, your best option is to file a civil lawsuit against the infringer. Depending on the situation, you decide whether to choose state or federal court.
Proving trademark infringement becomes easier if you have a registered mark with the USPTO. This is because if you have a mark registration in the USPTO’s government registry or database, the court will assume that your mark ownership is valid. You have exclusive trademark rights to use the Mark in the United States.
Here is an overview of trademark registration fees if your products and services are available for sale when you apply for registration:
Simply do a trademark search to find out if your mark is already registered. Also, there are many free tools available in the industry to find identical or similar tags. In fact, a trademark search is the first step in making sure your mark doesn’t infringe on someone else’s mark.
Can You Get A Trademark If Someone Else Is Using Your Name?
A registered trademark has many benefits, from granting rights to the trademark, exclusive use of the trademark, and providing standing in the event of a civil lawsuit.
You should regularly monitor your brand for any identical or similar trademarks in the industry that could damage your brand reputation. Here is a complete guide to tracking trademarks.
If you discover that someone else is intentionally using your mark and harming your income and reputation. Also, it is best to hire a trademark attorney and file a lawsuit against the infringer.
To build a brand, you need to create a unique identity in the mind of your audience, and branding does just that for your brand. If you’re planning to start a small business or run a business but want to get a trademark, we’re here to help with our years of expertise. We provide trademark services from A to Z, be it trademark search, monitoring or registration. Check our services and prices here. Trademark infringement occurs when a registered trademark is used without permission and in a way that confuses consumers as to the source of a product or service. Importantly, the use of the mark must be “likely” to cause confusion among actual or potential users or consumers. Although this definition seems simple, it can be difficult to fully understand because there are many exceptions to this general rule.
Trademark Registration And Company Registration Differentiation By Efiling Portal
The most obvious example of trademark infringement is if you have a designed logo that you use for your business. Let’s say your company is a store specializing in comfortable walking shoes. You have registered this logo as a trademark with the USPTO. Then, another company in your community starts using the same logo to advertise comfortable walking shoes similar to the shoes you sell. In this situation, it’s easy to see where another company’s use of your logo would confuse an actual or potential customer. In this situation, you, as the trademark holder, can sue another company for trademark infringement, because they used your registered trademark without permission in a way that misleads consumers about the goods or services. There is likely to be confusion as to the source of the service, namely the shoe
Trademark infringement requires the trademark user to use the trademark to sell goods and services. This requirement leads to some important exceptions to the rights of the registered owner. You may think that a trademark is infringed, but a trademark is not infringed if it meets one of the following exceptions.
You may use someone else’s trademark without permission if you are using it for informational purposes. This exception applies to situations where you:
This exception exists in large part because of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Your free speech rights allow you to express your opinions and provide information to others, even if they use someone else’s registered trademark.
Straps] Is It Possible To Trademark The Word “nato Strap?”
Descriptive fair use allows the use of a trademarked name in a purely descriptive sense. The key is that the use must not be a reference to the mark and must be made in good faith. For example, an advertisement can claim that a drink is sweet and spicy without infringing the SweetTart mark.
You may also use a registered trademark to specifically refer to that trademark or to products or services sold under that brand. For example, a body shop can claim to repair TOYOTA or AUDI cars without infringing on those companies’ trademarks.
Again, part of the argument behind this exemption is your free speech rights, but it’s often simpler than that. In one example, an authorized Lexus dealer used “Lexus” as part of its domain name (buyorleaselexus.com). Lexus sued for trademark infringement, but the court found that the nominal basis of fair use controlled – they weren’t trying to be Lexus, but they were selling Lexus vehicles.
Newspaper reporting or parody are other examples of marked fair use, where trademark infringement is unlikely to occur. In this type of use, the reasoning is that you are not harming or trying to exploit the mark and that there is no confusion for actual or potential users because it is clear that the trademark reference is something worth making a news or satirical point about.
What Happen If Someone Else Is Using My Trademark?
There is a statutory exception to trademark infringement that involves uses where you are not actually using the trademark as a mark. Opinions and references qualify for this exception, but consider another example.
Use of Disney or Warner Brothers characters may in some cases constitute trademark infringement.
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