Hi, I have a question about registered trade marks but i have changed the words for a number of reasons ... Ok ... say i have a domain called 'koolcars.com' the word kool is not a real word and is used inplace of 'cool'. Today i noticed another company (large) has a trademark on the word 'kool'. Does this stop me using the word 'kool' altogether? my web site and the trademarked company are 2 totally different industrie. How do i stand ... ? i dont want to build and promote my site 'koolcars.com' if im going to be forced legally to remove it because the word 'kool' is trademarked.
Trademarks are by classification. If you site is completely unrelated to theirs, you most likely wouldn't be infringing. Trademarks also do not need to be registered in the US to establish rights, so you would need to make sure their isn't another prior usage in the classification you intend to use it. Phonetic, misspellings, and similar marks can also be infringement - i.e. if coolcars was a trademark, koolcars would likely be infringement if it was used in the same or similar way.
Thanks for the advice. If they have a trademark on 'kool' and this has been passed and one of the classes is computers/internet then is this a problem for a buisness called 'kool cars' which solely trades online.? The company with trademark for 'kool' is in the industry of 'cinema/movies' so they have a web site but the www is not a major factor to there business other then simply using a web site to book shows. Oh and im based in the UK
The first issue, as mjewel pointed out, is whether the industries of the two marks conflict. In your example in the second post, even though koolcars trades online it probably trades in cars. That is not considered the same as a business that does computer work or web development. The second issue is how made up is the word? Kool is not a real word, however it is an easily identifiable misspelling. It be fairly easy to use this term in another industry without issue. Gredleflaxon, on the other hand, is entirely made up and doesn't bring anything else to mind easily. It would be much harder to defend using this term than defending the use of the term Kool. Whether the website means much to the real company has no bearing on whether it is okay to use the term. It might indicate that they are less likely to go after you, or perhaps they are just waiting for somebody to sue.
While this recent decision won't necessarily dictate how similar ones will then be resolved, you can get a few nuggets from it: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/new...825738A005C180E/$file/0556794.pdf?openelement If your situation happens to have similar circumstances, be careful.
Wow, that is just plain stupid. Nice find Dave. Just another example of how common sense and the law are not always related.
Trademark names are touchy. A big business entity like Mcdonalds, Microsoft and Yahoo will not like you if you used a name like: Yahoo Auto Sales, Microsoft Carpet Cleaning, or Mcdonalds Furniture. A small company cant do much because its not really interfering with a trademark name. look here: http://nolo.com/resource.cfm/catID/D8932879-DC34-43DF-BF65FC92D55FEE5D/310/274/ they also sell a new trademark book for $26.00 The book will set ya at ease to make the right decisions.
Of course, that depends on what side of the fence you're on. However, go to 14510-14512 of that decision and you'll find some interesting bits which lead to this eventual result. Would've pasted it here if I could.