Trademarking a "place"

Silly Old Hector

Now the Specialized thread is locked as the handbags have been drawn, what's the legal/trademark situation with naming your product after a place ?

Say, for example, I called a new bike model, the "London", could I stop anyone using the name Café "London", or Bicycle model "London" ?

Surely makes this Specialized case extremely silly ?

I can understand if you name a model a generic, made-up name and a competitor tried to copy, but this seems pretty odd......

VTech

I doubt it would pass tbh. I have just sold a trademark together with my company and we were always getting copied even though we have the registration (not worth it unless you have lots of spare cash to throw at it).
We initially went after a place name which was returned on three occasions until finally they told us why.

Balaclavas

In the UK to register a trademark it has to jump through a number of hoops. It has to be distinctive and capable of distinguishing one product from another, not liable to be confused etc. So, for example, the red colour used on a heinz ketchup bottle is not distinctive, the blue colour used on Heinz beans is and is intact a registered trademark. The trademark "London" probably isn't distinctive enough so I suspect wouldnt be registered here. American trademarks and copyright follow different rules which are generally much more restrictive than ours.

In the UK, words and phrases commonly used in that industry cannot be trademarked. So the word roubaix may come under that exclusion too. Using the word, but in the same font as specialized use may well fall foul of a trademark and if the use of the word may cause confusion with specialized, ie a normal consumer of those goods would assume it was a specialized shop. its not entirely certain where the decision would fall over here, let alone in America.

DavidBelcher

Balaclavas wrote:

the blue colour used on Heinz beans is and is intact a registered trademark.

Interesting - I didn't know that. What makes it more interesting is that in recent months, "Cadbury purple" was not allowed to become a registered trademark despite the best efforts of the chocolate firm's lawyers.

David

MichaelW

How many products are named "Kensington" and "Windsor"

RideOnTime

I asked my son Specialised Roubaix Bertrum Weetabix Middlesborough John Surname about this. He told me to @uck off and never speak to him again.

jordan_217

The 2011 CAAD10 was available in the US in the famous orange and blue livery of the Gulf Ford GT40. It looked ace. Unfortunately Cannondale couldn't sell the bike in the EU as Gulf had exclusive rights on the colour scheme.

jordan_217

RideOnTime wrote:

I asked my son Specialised Roubaix Bertrum Weetabix Middlesborough John Surname about this. He told me to @uck off and never speak to him again.

I live close to the Weetabix factory and I'm from Middlesbrough. Please note that I was out of the country (and have witnesses) when he was conceived.

GiantMike

MichaelW wrote:

How many products are named "Kensington" and "Windsor"

Well, there's the Queen and Duke for a start. The 'Windsors' sounds so much better than the 'Von-Foreigners'.

DavidBelcher

MichaelW wrote:

How many products are named "Kensington" and "Windsor"

And no, Price & Kensington teapots don't count, as the company was founded by someone called Kensington.

David

lostboysaint

jordan_217 wrote:

and have witnesses) when he was conceived.

You have witnesses of when he was conceived? How very modern!

jordan_217

lostboysaint wrote:

jordan_217 wrote:

and have witnesses) when he was conceived.

You have witnesses of when he was conceived? How very modern!

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