Discussion:
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? NY
I belong to a social/hobby group that is interested in doing paranormal investigations just for fun. There is no profit involved and we are not a business in any way, shape or form.
We have chosen the name of "Western New York Paranormal Investigators". Apparently there is another group that goes by the name "Western New York Paranormal", and he is threatening legal action if we don't change our name.
We chose the name because we liked the moniker "WNYPI", and I registered the website URL of wnypi.com. I think he is claiming trademark here, but I can find no federally registered trademark for it on uspto.com.
Here is a link to his logo:
Here is a link to ours:
We are doing this for fun, not to make money or get famous, we are not a business of any sort, and I want to tell this guy to go pound salt. Does he have any legal case against us or should I just give in and change it?
Answer:
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? NY
I belong to a social/hobby group that is interested in doing paranormal investigations just for fun. There is no profit involved and we are not a business in any way, shape or form.
We have chosen the name of "Western New York Paranormal Investigators". Apparently there is another group that goes by the name "Western New York Paranormal", and he is threatening legal action if we don't change our name.
We chose the name because we liked the moniker "WNYPI", and I registered the website URL of wnypi.com. I think he is claiming trademark here, but I can find no federally registered trademark for it on uspto.com.
Here is a link to his logo:
Here is a link to ours:
We are doing this for fun, not to make money or get famous, we are not a business of any sort, and I want to tell this guy to go pound salt. Does he have any legal case against us or should I just give in and change it? Lack of a registered trademark doesn't mean that the other party can't (or won't) try and claim common-law trademark rights. If they've established their name through use in commerce, they may very well have acquired rights to the name. I guess if you tell them to go pound salt, you'll find out how serious he is about enforcing his mark, if he actually has one.