tin1234

Hey, im trying to get a little bit of an understanding on something

I started a clothing company and we came up with a name. But we since found out the name is used by a fairly big amercian hip hop band. This band makes their own merch with there name on it
We since changed it so it wasnt exactly the same to try and ensure that we are fine to use the name

example of what im talking about(names are different of coarse)

We come up with the name heartbreak
find out there is a band named heartbreak and they make their own clothing to sell as merch
So we change our name to Heart Break Clothing Australia
Would this be enough of a difference in the names for us to have absolutley no problems or ramifications due to the name.

If it would be a problem, how much more would i have to change the name to make it legal Heart Break(s) Clothing Australia????


Any response would be greatly appreciated
By the way there is no trademark for their name that we have found in australia or in america


Thanks

BlackSpider

Just go here and do a search for yourself:

http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/tradem...ch_index.shtml

tin1234

see there is no trademark for the name in either australia or in america but they were using it first and even if i was to register it im sure that we will have a problem keeping it.
All im trying to find out is have i altered the name enough to avoid any problems with trademark.

tin1234

so no other help??

hostingmaven

It depends. Does the US company currently sell in Australia? If not, then you're going to be fine even keeping the name Heartbreak. Unless, of course, you plan on selling in the USA. If you plan on selling in the USA, just adding the of Australia may not be enough. You may want to just move the name around a little to something like Australia's Heartbreak.

Also, you would probably want the domain name so you can have a website (eventually) and they probably own the name. So, that's another reason not to use that name.