Starting a hotel.

[farmerjohn1324]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida.

I want to start a hotel and call it the Luxury Inn. How do I make sure I won't be infringing on anyone's trademark?

For example, if I opened a restaurant called Burger King, I would get in trouble for that. Is there a place I can search?

 

[justalayman]

you can start here:


http://www.uspto.gov/

you should also search any state's trademark office where you intend on doing business.

You can also do things like a simple internet research where you might find the term used:



then given the expenditure involved it would be a great idea to actually hire an attorney that works in TM law and pay them to investigate this for you.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida.

I want to start a hotel and call it the Luxury Inn. How do I make sure I won't be infringing on anyone's trademark?

For example, if I opened a restaurant called Burger King, I would get in trouble for that. Is there a place I can search?

There are several "Luxury Inn" hotel/motels throughout the country. You might want to think of a unique name to identify your hotel so yours will stand out from all the rest - and to better eliminate the risk of infringing on another's rights.

It is important to note that a search of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and a search of state databases, will not uncover all of the names used as trademarks. Trademarks do not have to be registered to be offered protection.

I agree with justalayman that, before investing a lot of time and energy and money into a single name as an identifier for your proposed hotel, hiring an attorney or a trademark-search firm to assist would be smart.