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There's a rideshare company called Via. Is this intentionally designed to take away their SEO?? I'd be surprised if there isn't a trademark challenge for this,

There's a rideshare company called Via. Is this intentionally designed to take away their SEO?? I'd be surprised if there isn't a trademark challenge for this, they're a competitor with Waymo.

martythemaniak 7y ago
There's a lot of things called Via, including a rail company
- NotSammyHagar 7y ago
  This is way too close. I was sure this was a google project. Hopefully google will sue them for using a trademarked name too close to theirs. Or would you like to try my new credit card makers, MasterCarte (ooh, that's probably already real ;-)), Vesa and MasterChief.
  - beatgammit 7y ago
    Well, there's CreditOne for credit cards, which uses a very similar symbol as CapitalOne. I don't know the legal status of that one...
bratawurst 7y ago
It is the two-thousand-year old word for “road”, and an English preposition. Anyone who picked it as a trademark for anything knew what they were getting themselves into.
- positr0n 7y ago
  That's not how trademark law works though. Just because apples are a common, 20 million year old fruit doesn't mean Apple can't trademark the brand Apple in relation to computers and personal electronics.
  - dumbfoundded 7y ago
    Trademarks matter in context a lot. An Apple branded computer is a lot stronger than an Apple branded apple. They choose a brand name bordering on descriptive. If it's descriptive, ie "Great Computer Co.", it's pretty weak. It'll be tough to own "Via" for anything in transportation.
    - samatman 7y ago
      That would be like owning the trademark "General Electric" and selling electrical equipment...
      - ska 7y ago
        ... which is why you never see any other companies with "electric" or "electronics" in their name.
      - titanomachy 7y ago
        International Business Machines General Electric General Motors Advanced Micro Devices To be fair, all were among the first companies to make the thing they are named for.
      - dumbfoundded 7y ago
        Well, General Electric predates many of the Supreme Court rulings that establish American trademark law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_trademark_case_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_...
  - fullshark 7y ago
    What a funny example to pick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer. Apple got sued for basically exactly that because another company already had that trademark!
aiddun 7y ago
When I saw the headline I honestly thought Waymo had bought Via
jedberg 7y ago
Ironically you can take Via to the Waymo offices.

There's a rideshare company called Via. Is this intentionally designed to take away their SEO?? I'd be surprised if there isn't a trademark challenge for this, they're a competitor with Waymo.

martythemaniak 7y ago

There's a lot of things called Via, including a rail company

NotSammyHagar 7y ago
This is way too close. I was sure this was a google project. Hopefully google will sue them for using a trademarked name too close to theirs. Or would you like to try my new credit card makers, MasterCarte (ooh, that's probably already real ;-)), Vesa and MasterChief.
- beatgammit 7y ago
  Well, there's CreditOne for credit cards, which uses a very similar symbol as CapitalOne. I don't know the legal status of that one...

bratawurst 7y ago

It is the two-thousand-year old word for “road”, and an English preposition. Anyone who picked it as a trademark for anything knew what they were getting themselves into.

positr0n 7y ago
That's not how trademark law works though. Just because apples are a common, 20 million year old fruit doesn't mean Apple can't trademark the brand Apple in relation to computers and personal electronics.
- dumbfoundded 7y ago
  Trademarks matter in context a lot. An Apple branded computer is a lot stronger than an Apple branded apple. They choose a brand name bordering on descriptive. If it's descriptive, ie "Great Computer Co.", it's pretty weak. It'll be tough to own "Via" for anything in transportation.
  - samatman 7y ago
    That would be like owning the trademark "General Electric" and selling electrical equipment...
    - ska 7y ago
      ... which is why you never see any other companies with "electric" or "electronics" in their name.
    - titanomachy 7y ago
      International Business Machines General Electric General Motors Advanced Micro Devices To be fair, all were among the first companies to make the thing they are named for.
    - dumbfoundded 7y ago
      Well, General Electric predates many of the Supreme Court rulings that establish American trademark law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_trademark_case_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_...
- fullshark 7y ago
  What a funny example to pick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer. Apple got sued for basically exactly that because another company already had that trademark!

aiddun 7y ago

When I saw the headline I honestly thought Waymo had bought Via

jedberg 7y ago

Ironically you can take Via to the Waymo offices.