Trademark Question

[coolmaltese]

Consumer confusion, perhaps?

I think the company you might be thinking of is Circuit City, not Computer City. There is a substantial difference in the types of litigation they were involved in.

As a note, while Computer City was a registered trademark, "computer" was a disclaimed word (unprotectable on its own under trademark law).

When LdiJ said it was "like the Walmart of computer stores" I immediately thought of Computer City as I believe they were one of the first to offer the superstore/grocery-store-type of retail outlet for computers. I remember the trade journals, one was Computer Retailer (if I remember correctly), had many articles regarding trademark litigation with them.

There was also the trademark case of Computer Shack when it first started. Radio Shack claimed trademark infringement on the name "Computer Shack" and Computer Shack was changed to ComputerLand (of San Leandro, CA) that became a national chain, now out of business. If I recall correctly, Radio Shack had a problem with the name and the logo or the way it was displayed as being too similar.

 

[quincy]

When LdiJ said it was "like the Walmart of computer stores" I immediately thought of Computer City as I believe they were one of the first to offer the superstore/grocery-store-type of retail outlet for computers. I remember the trade journals, one was Computer Retailer (if I remember correctly), had many articles regarding trademark litigation with them.

There was also the trademark case of Computer Shack when it first started. Radio Shack claimed trademark infringement on the name "Computer Shack" and Computer Shack was changed to ComputerLand (of San Leandro, CA) that became a national chain, now out of business. If I recall correctly, Radio Shack had a problem with the name and the logo or the way it was displayed as being too similar.

Tandy Corporation owned Computer City and Radio Shack and a couple of other chains, but all of them were sold off or changed hands. They were the first of the computer "super" stores to offer in-store servicing and computer training and their employees were computer geeks.

Most of the trademark lawsuits seem to have been over the Radio Shack trademark and not the Computer City trademark, though, but there were many other suits besides trademark suits filed by and against Tandy and subsequent owners.

I believe the last owner of the Computer City trademark was a company out of Detroit.

Circuit City Stores, Inc., on the other hand, filed several trademark claims against both large and small businesses and business owners, and many of these suits made it to trial. I think Circuit City became the largest of the computer chains.

Whatever the case, all of the computer stores seem to have had their fair share of lawsuits, both filed by them and filed against them and the bottom line is that a big company with money can often intimidate a small company with none to give up legitimate rights to the use of a name. You always want to avoid messing with the big guys when you can.