trademark issues etc

[dashu1]

Hello,
I wanted to ask the opinion of you guys to the following conundrum (the domains & companies are hypothetical - it isn't these domain names):

Suppose you have a domain say for example webco(.org.uk) that you want to put a site on as a web design company & call it "your existing ltd company trading as webco".

What happens when there is already an existing webdesign company on webco(.co.uk) where they call themselves, for example, "the web company"?

Could this be seen as passing off do you think, or is it just tough titties since the names are not trademarked?

Are there any other issues to consider?

Thanks!

 

[GreyWing]

From a business point of view you would probably be feeding their traffic and for me that would override any legitamate interest in that name.

So any drs or TM should come second to that

To answer your question, I imagine their would be direct TM issues yes.

 

[dashu1]

Thanks Grey Wing.

I always thought that if it were a generic (ish) term that there could be no complaints, but did wonder.

I'd contemplated changing the company name or trademarking the term, but amybe thats not such a good idea.

 

[accelerator]

My understanding is that ownership of a Ltd company in a given name does not confer intellectual property rights to that name, rather the trademark does.

If they have not taken out a trademark then they have not sort to protect their intellectual property rights and any case they bought against you would therefore be weak because of a lack of established trademarks.

This is only my opinion, not business advice.

Rgds

 

[dashu1]

Thanks accelerator, thats kind of what I understood too, I just wasn't sure I was understanding it correctly.

I've also seen that having the trademark doesn't necessarily mean you'll win if they have sufficeint good will - so I guess theres no easy answer.