3 ms·

In trademark law, a mark can be "Confusingly Similar." Doz differs from Moz, but it may still infringe on Moz's trademark. Because Doz has a similar spelling an

In trademark law, a mark can be "Confusingly Similar." Doz differs from Moz, but it may still infringe on Moz's trademark. Because Doz has a similar spelling and operates in the same industry as Moz, it may lead a "reasonable person" to believe the trademarks are related. The court will hold that Doz infringed on Moz's trademark if a reasonable person would find the two confusingly similar.

mindcrime 13y ago
So, let's look at other three letter words that differ in only one character and see if a reasonable person would find them to be overly similar: fog - dog. No. bet - get. No. top - pop. No. foo - moo. No. It's easy to say "oh, they're only one letter different" but when you're talking three letter words, that one letter carries a lot of weight, IMO. In fact, I'd argue that something like the "macrosoft" / "microsoft" example would be a better example of something that could legitimately be confusing (albeit still a stretch) than "moz" / "doz".
benatkin 13y ago
A reasonable person should see that by picking such a short of name they've forfeited their right to be nitpicky about pronunciation. My name's Ben, I've very often thought someone said Ben when they actually said something else. I don't get mad at them for saying something that sounded like "Ben". If my name was Prometheus I would have people say similar things much less often. Seomoz certainly could have chosen a more complex name.
Ryan_Watson 13y ago
Doz and Moz operate in the same industry and the use of Doz would most certainly trip the reasonable person standard for confusing similarity. If "Doz's" attorney had performed a 30 min trademark search with the USPTO "Doz" would have been advised to choose a different name.
- benatkin 13y ago
  > If "Doz's" attorney had performed a 30 min trademark search with the USPTO "Doz" would have been advised to choose a different name. I don't believe you, and you haven't provided anything to back up your statement.

mindcrime 13y ago

So, let's look at other three letter words that differ in only one character and see if a reasonable person would find them to be overly similar: fog - dog. No. bet - get. No. top - pop. No. foo - moo. No. It's easy to say "oh, they're only one letter different" but when you're talking three letter words, that one letter carries a lot of weight, IMO. In fact, I'd argue that something like the "macrosoft" / "microsoft" example would be a better example of something that could legitimately be confusing (albeit still a stretch) than "moz" / "doz".

benatkin 13y ago

A reasonable person should see that by picking such a short of name they've forfeited their right to be nitpicky about pronunciation. My name's Ben, I've very often thought someone said Ben when they actually said something else. I don't get mad at them for saying something that sounded like "Ben". If my name was Prometheus I would have people say similar things much less often. Seomoz certainly could have chosen a more complex name.

Ryan_Watson 13y ago

Doz and Moz operate in the same industry and the use of Doz would most certainly trip the reasonable person standard for confusing similarity. If "Doz's" attorney had performed a 30 min trademark search with the USPTO "Doz" would have been advised to choose a different name.

benatkin 13y ago
> If "Doz's" attorney had performed a 30 min trademark search with the USPTO "Doz" would have been advised to choose a different name. I don't believe you, and you haven't provided anything to back up your statement.