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Ask HN: Question on copyright/trademark
Hello HN -
I am in the process of building a startup and have a question regarding the name. The website I have chosen uses the .me TLD, and I intend for that to be part of the name. For example, say my site is Foo.me
Another larger company exists and has Foo.com, and There is a copyright for the Foo product - however, from what I understand names must be trademarked and are not copyrighted. My product is NOT a copy of Foo product, and I intend the product to be known as "Foo.me" . I cannot find any listing in the trademark database for "Foo". Am I safe in assuming my product name is safe from any infringement on Foo.com's name and/or product?
- staunch 15y agoIANAL. Copyright isn't an issue. This is purely about trademarks. The TLD is probably, or at least possibly, not considered when evaluating whether a consumer would be confused. Are your businesses/products/brands confusingly similar? Are you in the space general space? Have you seen what areas they have applied for/received trademarks for? If they're selling dishwashers and you're doing a SaaS app you're probably fine. If they're a search engine for dogs and you're a directory of cats you're probably treading on thin ice. IANAL x 10.
- ecaroth 15y agoThe reason I mentioned the TLD is because that is specifically part of the name of my product/company. ie my product is "Foo.me" and would never be labelled, branded, called, marketed, etc without the tld attached, whereas the other company's product is just "Foo".
- staunch 15y agoI know. I think it could only help you to do it that way but not sure the USPTO or a judge will agree with the distinction.