Trademark Problems

[OntarioBucsFan]

Looking for some advice here.

Our very unique company name has been registered as a website since 2004. Also registered as a small business in Ontario Canada for the same amoount of time.

We have never registered our name for a trademark.

This past month a team at a university(location USA) won a contest for the exact same name(with hyphen) and same idea in general. I don't have a problem with the niche or idea but sending out announcements with the exact name bothers me a bit.

I did contact the university awarding the $15,000 in seed money for first prize as one of their rules stated "Team members are responsible for protecting intellectual property associated with their business plan." The total value of first place is about $150,000 between seed money and donated services such as marketing, legal fees etc..

I also stated on the university blog my concerns with one of the published announcements.

What chaps me the most is statements such as "It surprised me that there wasn't already something like this" when the team was awarded first prize for an idea and name that was already taken. If this was an essay to be handed in they would of been expelled for plagerism.

For some background on our unigue name we have been mentioned on every major media outlet in the USA, UK and Canada. I'm not into sinking a lot of money this as we're a Ma Pa site run by two people, although not many people realise this.

Just looking for advice.

Thanks in advance.

[tangor]

First, you need to see a lawyer. Second, you don't want to air too much on this public forum. Third, if you've been in business with that name for x AND CAN PROVE IT you might be good for your locality (state, province, etc) though national or international could be problematic... that's what TRADEMARKS are about. However, DBAs have trumped some trademark wannabees so that's WHY you consult an attorney.

We can't give legal advice. And this is not legal advice.

[Syzygy]

In my view, your priority is to see if it might be possible to work something out with the university. To do so, you need to have a clear understanding of where you stand in the eyes of the law - specifically Canadian law as it relates to intellectual property.

You can either seek legal counsel - as tangor rightly suggests - or do some preliminary digging around in order to get a basic grasp of what your fundamental rights might be, should you have any.

At least that way you'll be armed with a bit of insight should you feel the need to seek legal counsel.

In doing a bit of digging around of my own, I came across the following two organisations. They look to ideal places to start:

* Canadian Intellectual Property Office [cipo.ic.gc.ca]
* Intellectual Property Institute of Canada [ipic.ca]

Good luck.

Syzygy

[OntarioBucsFan]

Thanks for the tips guys.

I will be speaking to a lawyer tomorrow that does trademarks worldwide just to see where I sit with this. Also what steps I should be taking for our future.

Avoiding legal costs for both sides is my goal. The optics of a suit would be bad for us and I worry the donated legal assistance would be also seen as a "learning experience" for the students.

Here's hoping a personal email basically saying "I know what you're doing, please stop" carries some weight.

Cheers