Author Topic: Selecting name of brand....Trade Mark, web page etc  (Read 815 times)

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Offline MacIntoshCZTopic starter

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Selecting name of brand....Trade Mark, web page etc
« on: January 19, 2022, 11:52:39 am »
Is there anyone who know more about trademarks?
Probably ever word i came with is already registered.
And when i found free word that no one use, boom website is taken
Also there are bunch of active trademarks with same names. Why?
As far as understand its divided into holder country and type of products.
So for instance if there is coca cola brand foor food i can still claim coca cola for electronics devices? Am i right?
I am checking it here:
https://www3.wipo.int/branddb/en/
Also trade marks are divided to words only and to combined images (image with word).
Word can be taken only once but combined trademark can be claimed multiple times with same word but different picture...?
 

Online Haenk

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Re: Selecting name of brand....Trade Mark, web page etc
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2022, 01:44:22 pm »
It's a matter of the so called "Nizza class" - there are a lot of different "classes" for different types of things, like "drinks", "electronic gadgets" and so on. Each class has a number assigned to it.
It is possible to register "MySuperBrand" as "drink", while another company already has registered "MySuperBrand" as "electronic gadgets".
So even if the brand is already registered, it might be for another class, so you are free to register it for your needs. Be aware that large brands, even if they did not register all possible classes (as they have to show active use of the class), might be unhappy if you use the same brand name, which usually involves lawyers. So it's best to ask a trademark lawyer in advance. Pro tip: it's not clever to register "Apple" as a brand for armchairs, even though Apple does not sell armchairs.
You can trademark a "name", which is much more restrictive than registering "name and picture" or "picture". So if you register "Coca-Cola" as a name, it's irrelevant which font you use. If you register the nike swoosh as a picture, only that exact swoosh is protected. Make it longer, thicker, whatever - in theory the trademark will not cover it.
But: all of this is not exact science, it's always subject to interpretation - and money (lots of money) if you need to defend yourself. Again, ask a lawyer.

Edit: If the website is already registered, as a brand owner you have higher rights to it than a non-brand-owner. Enforcing might not be easy, depending on the domain.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2022, 02:02:53 pm by Haenk »
 
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Offline MacIntoshCZTopic starter

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Re: Selecting name of brand....Trade Mark, web page etc
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2022, 04:40:18 pm »
How about adding a extra word to trademark? For instance if someone already ownc word "edison", can i claim "little edison"?
 

Online Haenk

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Re: Selecting name of brand....Trade Mark, web page etc
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2022, 08:38:17 am »
How about adding a extra word to trademark? For instance if someone already ownc word "edison", can i claim "little edison"?

Again, you need to ask a lawyer - this is not exact science. Very much depending on how much trouble is to be expected and if you are willing to spend 10s of k for legal fights.
 
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Offline jpanhalt

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Re: Selecting name of brand....Trade Mark, web page etc
« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2022, 10:17:40 am »
I second the advice to talk to s specialist trademark attorney. 

More than 50 years ago, I was dating a young girl whose grandfather was a Washington, DC trademark attorney.  He knew I was in training as a chemist and shared a few stories over dinner of cases in which he had been involved.  I found them absolutely fascinating.  I won't go into details, but one was how Bayer Chemical Co. lost its trademark on aspirin (it used it as a collective).  Similarly, DuPont had a problem with cellophane (it was used as a verb).
 
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Offline Picuino

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Re: Selecting name of brand....Trade Mark, web page etc
« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2022, 02:49:13 pm »
 

Offline MacIntoshCZTopic starter

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Re: Selecting name of brand....Trade Mark, web page etc
« Reply #6 on: January 20, 2022, 04:12:41 pm »
I got some ideas already. I never used name that i know that someone already has.
thanks everyone for help
 

Offline mazurov

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Re: Selecting name of brand....Trade Mark, web page etc
« Reply #7 on: January 20, 2022, 05:54:05 pm »
Also there are bunch of active trademarks with same names. Why?
In addition to already made points:

Classes are one thing that allows that, local laws is another. For example, there is a locally-owned restaurant in Scotland named "McDonald's".  McDonald's the chain can't do anything about it, even though this is a danger to their trademark (see below).

Maintaining a trademark is a hassle. You can't just register one and sit on it, it must be "active", i.e. used in context of your business. You will also need to defend it - if some other business starts using it you will either have to take some sort of a legal action (pay lawyers) or risk losing it. For example, see Sun Microsystems (or was it SCO already?) vs Sparkfun.

Maintaining a domain is much easier. As long as the domain is paid for and "active", i.e. you promptly answer admin e-mails and can demonstrate that it generates some sort of traffic (not necessarily a web site, a mail forwarder will do) you can beat any takeover attempts with little difficulty. Examples: Maxim, Nissan.

You will have less competition if you pick a name specific to your local language. Examples: Leki, Asolo. Also, from a marketing standpoint a short name that is easy to say/spell is more important than a meaningful one, both for a trademark and a domain.
With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine - RFC1925
 
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