A rose by any other name ...

Legal issues while naming your site

[Matahari]

hi everyone, i was not too sure where i could post this query as i didnt think it fit in anywhere. so here i am ..

i am starting out on a new venture and setting up a website for it. i plan to offer internet-related services. now the catch is that the name of my company ( and URL) sounds suspiciously like that of an existing site/company, even though i never knew of its existence earlier.

hypothetically , say my company is called "way to go" , the other company is called "way 2 go" and we have similar domains too i.e., way-to-go.com and way2go.com . so the only difference between us is the numeral 2. however, even though we both offer internet related services, the nature of services is somewhat different. while they facilitate relationships between clients and IT service providers online, we would be directly offering web services to clients worldwide.

what i would like to know is - will there be any legal issues in the future because my site sounds so much like theirs? also, since we both would be targetting similar clients, will i end up looking like a me-too site and losing out on some some prospective clients in the process?

i know this has been a long post, but im hoping for a couple of thoughts from all of you! ( beginners luck) :D

[jbinbpt]

Hi Matahari,
Welcome to Webmaster World.

I am not a lawyer, but these are a few things that I would check first.

I would check on the trademark status of their company name and I would also check to see if they have registered other variations of their company name as trademarks, servicemarks or domains.

IMO if they have ever used the alternate spelling of their name, they can claim first use and you will be out of luck and whatever investment you have made in the name.

If this were my venture, I would find a unique company name for myself. I would also would try to avoid a domain name that could have spelling options (2 vs two , by vs bye)

Good Luck
jb

[MatthewHSE]

I dealt with this question a year ago when I helped set up a new corporation. From what I learned then, my understanding is that it's illegal to select a company name, domain name, product name, etc., similar to an existing, competing company, if so doing might cause confusion in the mind of the consumer. If the other company offered web hosting and you offered pet supplies, there would be no problem. If the other company you mention would consider you a competitor, I'd say you're better off going with another domain name.

Please note: this post is not intended to be legal advice, nor should it be taken as a substitute to consulting with a competent attorney! :)

[Perplexed]

I think you should also consider the other comment in your post, the bit about how customers would see this. If I was aware of the other companies existance and then saw your site I think it is very unlikely ( being polite here ) that I wold decide to deal with you.

Do you already have money sunk into the name? It seems like an unnecessary risk to me unless changing it would have very serious repercussions.

[2_much]

It's good that you're checking now BEFORE you launch your business.

Why not build the business right from the beginning? Why would you want to pose this type of risk to your business?

If I were you, I would stay clear of this and pick an entirely different name and "brand".

[claus]

Such issues are a mess, i'm in one right now myself. Got a few different variations on a domain name four-five years ago and haven't employed them sofar. I was going to in the middle of last month, but then i saw that one domain-typo (a valid alternative way of spelling, like 2 vs. two) now had an active webpage that wasn't mine.

Looking the name up in the public company directory, he's VAT registered with that company name exactly one month before i saw his site. We are probably both somewhere in the large in web-design hemisphere, and i was going to use the name for an international web-based product, itīs not my company name.

It's a nice name in other parts of the world (i do have the international domains, including his regional spelling, just didn't get this single one) - but in this country it's ..well it's english and the country is not.

I've written to the relevant authorities to see if they could offer some advice, and they could'nt apart from advice to contact an attourney, which i could figure out myself, basically.

I see him not as a real firm/competitor, although his copied-from-something-website does claim (not proof) (web design) activity. I'm convinced that he only has done this to try to establish some rights to the name and thus to the international versions of same name. I really don't know what to do, but i'm very tempted to point my own regional-tld to some pr0n site or something even worse than that, as i do know a few tricks. Any advice would be helpful.

/claus

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added: Just found out that the chillingeffects website, that i didn't know until it was mentioned in another thread a few days ago has a lot of copyright info:

[chillingeffects.org...]

It's not exactly valid in my case, as i'm not an US citizen, but others might find it helpful.