A way to avoid this problem is to use a combined copyright + trademark licence. "smartcar" feels like a weak trademark and is likely not registrable. "Otonomo"

A way to avoid this problem is to use a combined copyright + trademark licence. "smartcar" feels like a weak trademark and is likely not registrable. "Otonomo" is inherently more distinctive - making it a stronger mark. To avoid this problem - "smartcar" needed a stronger trade mark in the first place. Secondly the API copyright licence needs to work in combination with the improved "smartcar" trademark. The Artistic Licence 2.0 for Perl 6 is an example of a copyright licence that works in combination with a trade mark. Copyright licences are incredibly flexible - it's possible to restrict server-side implementations for example. Depending on the business objectives it should be possible to strike the right balance - binding the API to your trademark via the copyright licence - could be a good move if your API is a market-maker.