4 ms·

It's not, surprisingly: Their brand is "Smart"; I'm assuming we call them "Smart cars" because "Smarts" sounds weirder than "Toyotas."

natureman 10y ago
interesting. people also said same thing about "Dropbox" vs "Box" as one was already around. I just did a trademark search, it looks like "Daimler" which is parent company of "Mercedes Benz" has registered "Smart" but not "Smartcar".
rorykoehler 10y ago
Trademark law generally covers you (sometimes after a lengthly legal battle) if there is a chance that you could be confused for the other party which in this case I clearly was. It was the first thing I thought in fact.
- mmaunder 10y ago
  Actual instances of customer confusion is the acid test. Been sued over tm. Have successfully C&D'd. Not a lawyer.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- georgemcbay 10y ago
  "which in this case I clearly was. It was the first thing I thought in fact." FWIW, I made the same mistake. My first thought on reading the post was "How could he be an early employee of Smartcar if he started last October? Those cars have been on the road for years..." Reading the rest of the post made it clear he was talking about something different, but though IANAL it seems like a pretty obvious trademark problem if they get big enough to be noticed by the maker of Smart cars, particularly since you can't just let trademark problems slide (unlike copyright, etc) without potentially weakening your trademark to the point where you lose it.
greglindahl 10y ago
Trademarks are adjectives, not nouns. When you apply for a trademark, your lawyer will insist that you provide samples of marketing materials which use the mark as an adjective. So Toyota probably occasionally refers to "Toyota Automobiles", and I'd bet that Daimler's marketing refers to "Smart(tm) cars" all over the place... and they do, see google results for ["smart cars" site:smart.com] Looking at the Google results for [smart cars] and ["smartcars"], it boggles the mind that anyone would try to register a new mark in the auto sector like that. So much potential confusion!

natureman 10y ago

interesting. people also said same thing about "Dropbox" vs "Box" as one was already around. I just did a trademark search, it looks like "Daimler" which is parent company of "Mercedes Benz" has registered "Smart" but not "Smartcar".

rorykoehler 10y ago

Trademark law generally covers you (sometimes after a lengthly legal battle) if there is a chance that you could be confused for the other party which in this case I clearly was. It was the first thing I thought in fact.

mmaunder 10y ago
Actual instances of customer confusion is the acid test. Been sued over tm. Have successfully C&D'd. Not a lawyer.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
georgemcbay 10y ago
"which in this case I clearly was. It was the first thing I thought in fact." FWIW, I made the same mistake. My first thought on reading the post was "How could he be an early employee of Smartcar if he started last October? Those cars have been on the road for years..." Reading the rest of the post made it clear he was talking about something different, but though IANAL it seems like a pretty obvious trademark problem if they get big enough to be noticed by the maker of Smart cars, particularly since you can't just let trademark problems slide (unlike copyright, etc) without potentially weakening your trademark to the point where you lose it.

greglindahl 10y ago

Trademarks are adjectives, not nouns. When you apply for a trademark, your lawyer will insist that you provide samples of marketing materials which use the mark as an adjective. So Toyota probably occasionally refers to "Toyota Automobiles", and I'd bet that Daimler's marketing refers to "Smart(tm) cars" all over the place... and they do, see google results for ["smart cars" site:smart.com] Looking at the Google results for [smart cars] and ["smartcars"], it boggles the mind that anyone would try to register a new mark in the auto sector like that. So much potential confusion!