Startups Stack Exchange Archive

Can my company name include a word that is trademarked in a different class?

• posted by: Chad Johnson on 2017-07-18
• tagged: legal, trademark
• score: 2

Let’s say I want to start a web development LLC and call it, for example, Groovy Web Solutions (or just Groovy Solutions). Now let’s say there is a robotics company called Groovy Robotics, and that company has a trademark for “Groovy.” The company has the following in their website footer (note that I replaced the real word with the example word “Groovy”):

© 2017 GROOVY ROBOTICS, GROOVY, and groovy are trademarks of Groovy Robotics, Inc. in the US, the European Union and/or in other countries worldwide.

My company and their company service completely different markets, so I understand we are in different classes.

Will I likely face a problem naming my company “Groovy Web Solutions” or “Groovy Solutions?”

Answer 13023

• posted by: Jeff O’Neill on 2017-07-19
• score: 3

Yes, this should be ok. It depends on a few things:

• How different the products of the two companies are. Web development and robotics seem quite different.
• The strength of the existing mark. Made up words (e.g., Xerox) are very strong and words in the dictionary are less strong.
• How big and well known the other company is. Famous marks get more protection and big companies can also be very aggressive in protecting their marks.

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