your trading name

wheresmydoshat

morning all,

i am in the process of changing my business name and have come up with one that i am really happy with. for obvious reasons i won't put it up here (yet).

what i am slightly concerned about tho is whether ebay would have any problems with it, as it is a play on words using the term "bay".

i have asked a few people on this and they feel that although ebay may have an issue with it i am far too smalltime for them to be bothered by it.

what i don't want to do is plaster it all over leaflets and websites and then have to change it.

what are peoples thoughts ?

alchemistkevin

You should be ok unless your name is iHateeBay or eBayIsEvil, etc

wheresmydoshat

u got it on your second guess !

wheresmydoshat

i'm overwhelmed...!!

StaffsSW

eBay litigation team are not to be messed with - they are VERY protective of their name, and how it should be used. The only reason paypalsucks is still around is that their name was registered before eBay took bought paypal.

You need VERY deep pockets if you want to fight your corner - easier not to bother in the first place.

wheresmydoshat

fair enough. how similar would it need to be tho ?

i mean, the name hasn't actually got "ebay" as a whole in it..

wheresmydoshat

in fact if anything i would say it was a play on words of the term "bay"....

blue_monkey_2

You're being too vague so how can anyone tell. If you want an honest answer you are going to have to say what it is.

Why would you want to change your business name anyway, will your customers not wonder where you have gone? A year on people look for my ebay name to find my website as the 2 were the same!!

wheresmydoshat

your right about the vagueness, but until certain things have been done i'd be stupid to post it up on the internet.

its not just a name change, i am starting a new business all together. the original had complications which meant i never really ran with it. therefore it hasn't really picked up much exposure, at least not enough for us to overcome.

blue_monkey_2

But then we cannot give you an opinion, can we? 'a play on the word bay' is a bit vague in all fairness so you are going to have to take the chance and hope that you are not doing something wrong. Do you think that by using the work 'bay' you get more exposure because it doesn't really work like that. It has taken me 4 years of trading to get to the first pages of Google as they reward longetivity, just using a name is not going to get you more business.

SunnySusie

wheresmydoshat wrote: »

i'd be stupid to post it up on the internet.

...but still stupid enough to expect us to answer an impossible question!

Im joshing!

Google up the "Easy Group" disputes for an idea of how trademark holders are favoured. Can I suggest you dont pick EasyBay !