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Side topic: In the USA, what is the legal precedent for business competitors having a very similar name? If I name my social network for race car drivers "Race

Side topic: In the USA, what is the legal precedent for business competitors having a very similar name? If I name my social network for race car drivers "Racebook, Inc.", and my logo is a blue square with a white "r" on it, am i opening myself up to legal trouble?

senectus1 9y ago
It'll be Lawyers at 100 paces. whoever has the baddest lawyer wins. (or the largest number of baddest lawyers)
bmcusick 9y ago
Yeah, this seems like a probable trademark violation as it's likely to cause confusion in the marketplace. I expect they'll have to change it.
josto 9y ago
See trademark dilution
wyldfire 9y ago
A guideline for determining trademark infringement is "confusingly similar". Also trademarks have scope and so operating in the same business/domain. Unlike copyrights or patents, if trademarks aren't well protected they can be considered forfeited (Bayer's Aspirin is a pretty common example). So you could imagine Facebook or Reddit reacting pretty swiftly in the case of examples like yours or OP.
amyjess 9y ago
A while back, somebody created an Imgur knockoff called Slimgur. He specifically created it because Imgur was enforcing its TOS banning hate speech, and he didn't like that. Imgur threatened to sue, and he was forced to change his site's name, first to Slimgr, and eventually to sli.mg (though the second change was because he lost the domain when the registrar found out he was letting his users upload child porn).
kelukelugames 9y ago
Remember Twitter and Twitpic? I imagine raddit is not okay.
- icebraining 9y ago
  Twitpic got bullied, it didn't lose in a court of law.
vxNsr 9y ago
Interestingly, right after YouTube became popular a ton of -tube websites popped up, it was before they were bought by Google so they didn't have the money to sue and I'm guessing by the time Google bought them they probably no longer had a good case.

senectus1 9y ago

It'll be Lawyers at 100 paces. whoever has the baddest lawyer wins. (or the largest number of baddest lawyers)

bmcusick 9y ago

Yeah, this seems like a probable trademark violation as it's likely to cause confusion in the marketplace. I expect they'll have to change it.

josto 9y ago

See trademark dilution

wyldfire 9y ago

A guideline for determining trademark infringement is "confusingly similar". Also trademarks have scope and so operating in the same business/domain. Unlike copyrights or patents, if trademarks aren't well protected they can be considered forfeited (Bayer's Aspirin is a pretty common example). So you could imagine Facebook or Reddit reacting pretty swiftly in the case of examples like yours or OP.

amyjess 9y ago

A while back, somebody created an Imgur knockoff called Slimgur. He specifically created it because Imgur was enforcing its TOS banning hate speech, and he didn't like that. Imgur threatened to sue, and he was forced to change his site's name, first to Slimgr, and eventually to sli.mg (though the second change was because he lost the domain when the registrar found out he was letting his users upload child porn).

kelukelugames 9y ago

Remember Twitter and Twitpic? I imagine raddit is not okay.

icebraining 9y ago
Twitpic got bullied, it didn't lose in a court of law.

vxNsr 9y ago

Interestingly, right after YouTube became popular a ton of -tube websites popped up, it was before they were bought by Google so they didn't have the money to sue and I'm guessing by the time Google bought them they probably no longer had a good case.