Question

Topic: Branding

Similar Brand Name To Competitors

Posted by Anonymous on 11/30/2004 at 11:59 AM ET 125 Points
Hi. We've had a new name for our company registered for two years now, and recently decided to start using it. However, at around the same time, our main competitor was bought by a firm that has a similar name to the new one we want to use but haven't yet started to use. Now my fear is that it will look as though we are copying them. Bad thing? Good thing? Is the potential for confusion bad or good? (They are about 50 times our size!)

For the sake of illustration, let's suppose the company having bought the competitor is called "Strongbox" and our new proposed name was "Strong Views" . As in this example, theirs is one compound word vs our two words, and ours relate clearly to what we do, but theirs does not relate as obviously.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 11/30/2004 at 12:13 PM Member
    Hi, Tema, and congratulations on posting your first question on the forum! I hope you'll find it as useful as I have.

    I'd say that the potential confusion of similar business names is not worth the risk, particularly if your competitor has been around a while and has more brand equity.

    Let's see what the other Experts here think...

    - Shelley
  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 11/30/2004 at 1:20 PM Member
    I think the $64,000 question (you can PayPal the funds to me) is, "How realistic is it to think that people will confuse the two companies based on the similarity of the names?"

    Personally, I think that even having part of your name the same as theirs is a mistake, and there are two reasons why I think that.

    First, if you're the smaller company, there may be some people who will think that you purposely tried to come up with a name that was similar to the bigger company. I don't think that's such a good thing.

    Second, how confident are you that the larger company--which by your admission is 50X as large as your business--won't come after you for infringement on the name? I doubt you want to get into a legal battle with a company that is so much larger, and if you lose such a battle you could be forced to start over and lose any equity that your name had built up.

    In my opinion, it doesn't matter that you thought of this name years ago. What matters is when you started using it. And using it *after* this merger by your larger competitor--again, IMHO--will be suspect by prospects and customers.

    How married are you to this new name? And have you consulted an IP lawyer?

    Paul
  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 11/30/2004 at 5:05 PM Member
    "You are at no risk if you've been using the name from the start and they've not used it."

    But isn't that the point? They *haven't* been using it.

    I think that's the critical difference, unless there's a legal definition of "use" of which I'm unaware (and being that I'm no lawyer, that could certainly be the case!). I'd think, however, that "use" means actually using it, not just trademarking something and then storing it away for a couple of years.

    Does that change the analysis?
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 11/30/2004 at 7:22 PM Member
    Wait a minute, who's "they?" Isn't that the competitor? They HAVE been using it (or their acquiring company has).

    Tema's company has NOT been using the similar name, even though they registered it.

    Where's Deremiah? We need some clarity over here, too!

    Shelley ;]
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