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[mark wilkiinson]

i have done a search for a name that i am looking at using in the re-branding of a company and it shows that there are two parties using the name. how is this possible ? is there some sort of state/federal issue at work ? can i jump onboard of a name that is use somehow ?

[Isaac]

A company name is used to identify a business entity while a trademark is used to identify goods and services as coming from a single source.  While a given term might function as both a trademark and a company name, not all company names are trademarks.

Additionally more than one entity may hold a trademark based on a given term.   Marks which are not federally registered are only enforceable in the geographic regions in which they are established, and even within an overlapping geographic scopes more than one business may use a given mark as long marks do not create a likelihood of confusion.

I think your answer is somewhere among those possibilities.

[JSonnabend]

Take, for example, Delta brand faucets and Delta Airlines (throw in Delta power tools, if you'd like).  No one confuses the airline with the faucet people, so the marks don't conflict.  You're generally free to "jump onboard" as long as you don't infringe one of the previously existing marks.

- Jeff