Trademark question

[geograv]

Hi --

I'm having a hell of a time finding a business name that isn't already taken/trademarked for a well known and used type of business concept.

Would it be OK to trademark the following (for example):

"potatobeans" for use as a business name IF a similar larger company alraedy uses "violetbeans" as a business name.

If this can cause trademark problems, could I use "beans potato" or "beanspotato" instead to avoid possible legal trouble?


Thanks

[geograv]

I just found this link, which makes it sound like I can use a very different logo to differentiate the two biz names/brands. Confusing similarity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[DangerousCurves]

trademark infringement cases are generally fought based on the likelihood of brand confusion, and or the consumers lack of ability to differentiate between one brand/product or another. Although i'm not an attorney, i have had to litigate my own trademark on a few occasions. I personally don't think you'd have a problem getting potatobeans registered if your competitor was violetbeans.. they might oppose it with the uspto, but i really wouldn't think there would be much confusion between the two. it's not the word beans that will be the differentiating element, it will be the prefix, and i wouldn't think potato and violet would cause much confusion between each other, if they were sitting together on a store shelf. Especially if you incorporated a unique logo, brand color or unique spelling to really create your own unique brand identity.

Easiest way to be sure is to check with a trademark attorney, i can give you a reference to a good firm if you like..

PM me if you're interested. Best of luck with it.