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Author Topic: trademark registered in Deparment of State of Florida  (Read 780 times)

Joasia

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Hi
I would like to know if a fictitious name was registered in Department of State of Florida , there would be any obstacles to register the same name or very similar  in USPTO. I would like to add that the fictitious name is the name of our product and the ficitious name was registerd by another person.
Any help here would be appreciated.
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Zonath

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Re: trademark registered in Deparment of State of Florida
« Reply #1 on: 04-14-11 at 11:46 pm »

Merely registering a business name does not grant any trademark right to that name, nor mitigate any element of trademark infringement.

At the same time, the existence of this business could cause problems for you registering your name with the USPTO, especially if this business uses the same (or a confusingly similar) mark in a closely-related line of business.  If this business was so inclined, it could file an opposition to your registration with the USPTO, or else possibly sue for infringement of whatever rights it has in its mark.
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BobRoberts

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Re: trademark registered in Deparment of State of Florida
« Reply #2 on: 04-15-11 at 12:15 pm »

I would add that if your mark is being used in a Trademark sense, it may depend on the goods/services involved.  Are your goods and services the same, slightly different, or totally different than tha of the Florida business?  It comes down to whether someone would be likely to confuse the Jr. User's products/services bearing the mark as being associated with the Sr. User.  A sr. User is the party using the mark in commerce the longest.  Jr. Users would be the party(ies) using the mark in commerce since the Sr. User commenced continuous use of the mark. 

Typically, the closer/more similar the marks, the less similar the products/services need be to find likelihood of confusion.  Be aware that there are many factors that could affect likelihood of confusion. 

Good luck. 
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JSonnabend

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Re: trademark registered in Deparment of State of Florida
« Reply #3 on: 04-19-11 at 07:05 am »

Merely registering a business name does not grant any trademark right to that name, nor mitigate any element of trademark infringement.

That's a bit of an overstatement.  Registering a fictitious name likely shows use, and therefore may indicate common law rights.  Even absent use, the registration may be part of a larger set of circumstances supporting priority. 

- Jeff
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SonnabendLaw
Intellectual Property and Technology Law
Brooklyn, USA
718-832-8810
JSonnabend@SonnabendLaw.com
 



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