Naming your business

[quincy]

When starting a new business, choosing a trademark that will distinguish your goods and services from those of all others can be one of the most important decisions a business owner will make.

The U.S.Supreme Court today might have made that decision an easier one for some by finding, in Iancu v. Brunetti, that the Lanham Act's bar on registering "immoral" or "scandalous" names is an unconstitutional infringement on the First Amendment.

Here is a link to the Opinion:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18-302_e29g.pdf
This Opinion follows an earlier one issued by the Court (in Matal v. Tam) that found the Lanham Act's prohibition on registering "disparaging" trademarks was unconstitutional.

This is either good news or bad news, depending on how sensitive you might be to seeing products displayed on store shelves or advertised on TV that have immoral or scandalous or disparaging word trademarks.


(this thread is primarily to bump a couple of Malaysia-originated threads off the main board)

 

[adjusterjack]

I wonder if he's going to get sued by the Ford Motor Company:

https://fuct.com/collections/shop/products/richardson-x-fuct-aloha-shirt

 

[quincy]

I wonder if he's going to get sued by the Ford Motor Company: ...

Nice apparel, huh? Haha.

Unless Brunetti acquired a license from Ford (highly unlikely), there is a good chance a cease and desist letter, if not an injunction, is in Brunetti's future.

Of course, Carrier's logo is a blue oval with script similar to the script of Ford's logo and no consumer confusion is generated (consumers recognize that a furnace is not an automobile) - but Brunetti's clothing design uses not only the blue oval but Ford's distinctive "F" which can be problematic because Ford also has clothing items for sale with their Ford logo.

 

[adjusterjack]

Carrier's logo is a blue oval with script similar to the script of Ford's logo

https://www.afishinsea.co.uk/uploads/source/Ford-Carrier-logos.jpg

no consumer confusion is generated (consumers recognize that a furnace is not an automobile)

And apparently no objection from Ford. The Ford logo changed from gray to blue in 1927. As far as I can tell from Carrier's website, its blue logo was created some time between 1979 and 1990. No mention of any dispute with Ford online.

https://www.carrier.com/carrier/en/us/about-carrier/history/

FUCT's clothing design uses not only the blue oval but Ford's distinctive "F" which can be problematic because Ford also has clothing items for sale with their Ford logo.

Yes, it's that distinctive "F" that may get Brunetti (dare I say it) FUCT.

 

[quincy]

Haha. I actually edited my previous post to remove the clothing trademark because I thought it might be pushing limits here.

 

[adjusterjack]

That limit cried out to be pushed.

 

[quincy]

That limit cried out to be pushed.

Haha. Yes. Yes it did.