Ask HN: Help Is it worth rebranding (trademark infringement)?

There is not enough info here to look at the specifics of the issue, although I do note that you are seeking general advice as to the line you should take - in short what degree of pragmatism you should exercise.

That is a difficult one to answer. You mention lack of time. It is always difficult to ascertain at the start of a problem how much time an issue will take, simply because it is impossible to determine how far the other party are willing to push things. If they dig their heels in, the time expenditure could be considerable. If they are flying a flag, they may simply go away after an email or two - the problem is, you just never know.

In terms of costs, again, it could be a simple matter and cost a few hundred pounds and be resolved by a few letters. They may dig their heels in and you then face either spending more, or finding a work around. Again it comes down to whether they are simply flying a flag, or whether they are prepared to push matters.

Realistically, I would suggest you need to ascertain your legal position in terms of: a) Whether they do have a trademark; b) If so, whether your name/logo is close enough to breach that;

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I would try to speak with them - they may offer an initial free appointment for a start up, and take specific advice on your problem, then decide the way you want to go.

Milly.

If you decide you'd like to keep the name, then don't worry. These guys will have to get serious and actually follow legal protocol before even filing for any case. Such a case would be held in the high court, and this will cost them tens of thousands.

What they have sent you does not appear to be a protocol letter and if they do send you one, they must explore resolving the dispute amicably before they can file for a case. You will get at least 30 days after receiving a protocol letter to respond.

I'd check out what exact trademarks they hold and research a bit into case law surrounding this. Find out if they have a strong case, if they don't, I highly doubt they will spend tens of thousands on taking this to the high court.

Just my 2 cents, i'm not a lawyer.

It reads a lot to me like they are willing to negotiate a mutually beneficial agreement. Go meet them face to face (if practical, I think you're both in London?) and bring a list of the key features of your owl, logo and name and how it differs from theirs and see if you can give them some guarantees to keep yours different enough from theirs to avoid confusion going forward.

Realistically, they might have to spend vast sums to win a trademark law case, but they only need to write a letter to Apple to jeopardise your business...

I've dealt with this exact issue before, although through US law and not UK law. One thing I found is that a lot of places who have trademarks have to send out notices like this in order to maintain their ownership of the trademark.

That said, it's hard to get context on this with the information you've given us. Did this message come from a lawyer, or just an executive working there? A name change can kill a company, and the burden is likely on them to demonstrate that you are directly impacting them, which is hard to say without knowing anything about them. Do you think they have the resources to bring an infringement suit on you?

Trademark infringement can be hard to establish. A quick example: in the US, there are over 30 trademarks on the letters "AMD", for all kinds of different purposes. Trademarks are more than just a name, an infringement has to meet multiple standards.

I would look at the law on the books (in the US it's at uspto.gov, I don't know about the UK) and proceed from there.

With that said, I have personal experience with trademark law in the US (not the UK), and I don't think they have a leg to stand on if US and UK law is the same with respect to trademarks. For example, in the US, one must have a product and product literature publicly available and in use for at least one year, and one must register for the mark(s) with industry/ product -specifically noted. From the redacted letter, it appears this company is claiming to already have been granted a mark, so this should be a matter of simply looking it up.