What is the name of your state? WY
A few years ago, a software was registered along with its (software development) company name such as:
"Powersoft PowerBuilder"
where Powersoft is the name of the company and PowerBuilder is the name of the software. The above is just an example and not the actual case; the company and the software are different.
The software is known as PowerBuilder and NO one calls it as 'Powersoft PowerBuilder'. On the other hand, Powersoft company itself has NOT filed for any servicemark of their company name. It seems like a 'brilliant' idea on their part to do a single filing (trademark along with the company name) to scare others from using their company name that appears in trademark search. In fact, they own the .com domain (powersoft.com) for their company but never hosted it - it is just dormant for years. They sell their product under the name of 'PowerBuilder' (without Powersoft in it) on another website that has nothing to do with their company name (Powersoft) and I don't know if anyone is ever buying it because it is never heard of.
If I have to name my software development company as Powersoft, can I file for the servicemark 'Powersoft' and get it registered successfully? In other words, can I use someone's trademark as my servicemark if they never filed for a servicemark? None of my software will be called PowerBuilder, though. If my servicemark gets registered, can I go after them for the ownership of their domain name because I own the servicemark and they don't use their domain? Or will they win because they used the name prior to me.
The company-name and the product-name used above are simply examples but the case itself is genuine.
Thanks much to all for your candid advice.
tm
A few years ago, a software was registered along with its (software development) company name such as:
"Powersoft PowerBuilder"
where Powersoft is the name of the company and PowerBuilder is the name of the software. The above is just an example and not the actual case; the company and the software are different.
The software is known as PowerBuilder and NO one calls it as 'Powersoft PowerBuilder'. On the other hand, Powersoft company itself has NOT filed for any servicemark of their company name. It seems like a 'brilliant' idea on their part to do a single filing (trademark along with the company name) to scare others from using their company name that appears in trademark search. In fact, they own the .com domain (powersoft.com) for their company but never hosted it - it is just dormant for years. They sell their product under the name of 'PowerBuilder' (without Powersoft in it) on another website that has nothing to do with their company name (Powersoft) and I don't know if anyone is ever buying it because it is never heard of.
If I have to name my software development company as Powersoft, can I file for the servicemark 'Powersoft' and get it registered successfully? In other words, can I use someone's trademark as my servicemark if they never filed for a servicemark? None of my software will be called PowerBuilder, though. If my servicemark gets registered, can I go after them for the ownership of their domain name because I own the servicemark and they don't use their domain? Or will they win because they used the name prior to me.
The company-name and the product-name used above are simply examples but the case itself is genuine.
Thanks much to all for your candid advice.
tm