Company Name Trademark Questions

[taylor]

I posted this at the other forum but thought I'd post this here too, hoping someone here might have some experiences or expertise in this subject.
[INDENT] I've been brainstorming for weeks to decide on the right company name but every name I've thought of has already been taken, not necessarily trademarked though. I've discussed trademarks with friends of mine but I still don't have any clear cut answers. And I'm on a tight budget now so I'd prefer not to go to a trademark attorney or any attorney for that matter...bad experiences and a cash drain. Also I've done trademark searches too Trademarks Home. With that being said I have the following questions I'm hoping somebody can answer. Also the names in the examples are fictional:

1) If there's a company in FL that has a name Praxinternational Enterprise (Importer of auto parts), and I decide on Praxinternational Sources (Importer of monitors) in CA, can I be sued by the company in FL even though when I did a search their name is not trademarked?

2) If there's a company in China that when I do a search has a trademark, can I be sued for having the same name in the United States?

Thanks in advance for your help.[/INDENT]

[freddy]

I know you said you'd rather not go to a trademark attorney, but there's that saying "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" and I think it definitely applied here.

With that being said, here's my opinion. Keep in mind I'm not a lawyer whatsoever.:

1)I think that might be ok since it's not the exact same name and you are in different industries. Why do you want to use the word "Praxinternational". If you want to avoid that hassle then just drop that name. If they don't own the trademark then I believe you could register the trademark, and tell them to stop using the name because they are infringing on your trademark. It's kind of dirty, but I think the law would be on your side. However, you might end up in courts. Part of owning a trademark is enforcing your claim to the trademark and not allowing others to use it.

2)If they have a trademark in the United States, then yes. If it's only in China, then I think not. If you went over to China and started doing business in China then yes.

Like I said before your best off paying to speak with a lawyer for an hour. Look at it as "real life business education", instead of a huge hourly rate.

[burbuja0512]

Wow... I literally just took a graduate-level course that included quite a bit of trademark & copyright info and I still can't sort it all out. I agree with the OP - get a lawyer. It sounds like you may not need a bunch of legal advice, so perhaps you could find someone who charges by the hour and just take 30 minutes or so of their time.

If you're starting a business, be careful to have enough money before you begin.. so many businesses start off with the assumption that they'll make it right away and then close their doors before they ever really had a chance. Legal protection for your names and keeping from getting sued is a very major deal, so the few hundred bucks you spend on this would be well worth every penny. And.. hate to say it, but for a business, you may need to seek legal counsel on several occasional depending on what you're doing, so set aside a budget for it.

Regarding the question about the Chinese trademark. Do you ever plan on doing business there? I don't know what type of company you have, but if you ever want to go international, you may want to strongly consider this. China is a huge market and if you're not able to utilize your recognized brand name there, will that negatively impact your success? For most companies, "going international" is not as difficult as it sounds, so don't rule this out. It's actually fairly simple when you work through distributors or agents, so if it applies to your business, you may want to view it as part of a long-term strategy, in which case, the name concern might be bigger than you think.

Good luck!

[taylor]

Thanks for the advice both of you. I'm still trying to figure out a company name that hasn't been taken so I can hopefully avoid a meeting with an attorney, but so far every name I've thought of that's not taken already ends up sounding like something from Nickelodeon. If I don't come up with something that's music to my ears in the next few days I will probably have to bite the bullet and lawyer up...don't mind 1 meeting or 1 hour but nothing more for something so simple.

Currently, I only import products but I would definitely like to export products to China. But it's so hard to find that right product to export there because they could make almost everything cheaper than us.