Another business now using my name!!!!

Clarel26

Hi everyone,

Please could somebody give me a bit of advice.

I started my own small business back in January 2011 making nappy cakes and other gifts.

Deciding on a name was difficult as a wanted to ensure no other companies were using a similar name. I scoured facebook and google to ensure there was no business pages or websites that had a similar name.

I have today found a business page on facebook, that wasnt on there when I joined, and name is the same as mine, apart from I have an extra word added to the end.....they also have the same products as me and are fairly local.

I dont have a website as of yet as i wanted to take things slowly but they do have a website, seem to be progressing their business at faster pace, the it states something about Copyright at the bottom.

I just dont want to cause any problems for myself further down the line......i will change my name if neccessary but with regards to my facebook page, i think this would more or less mean starting all over again

Thanks xxx

heretolearn_2

You've only been going a few months yourself - it is possible that they haven't copied you at all, did the same checks as you at the start of the year, and launched at the same sort of time. They've just been more organised about getting themselves online. It's probably just one of those things. Even if not, hard to prove they copied, and hard and expensive to make them stop.

It's a different situation to if you'd been trading for some time and were easy to find details of.

Personally, I'd just change my name.

Clarel26

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I have emailed the other business out of courtesy and they have replied to state that their "Copyright Account Manager" has advised them of my existance earlier this week.

I am not suggesting that this business has copied my name but I was actively on the internet (facebook) several weeks before they joined.

Just seems unfair that a business can be launched and expect another business to change its name dispite the name already being used.

I dont know an awful lot about Copyright but from what I have read today, you can't actually Copyright a business name....is this correct?

Thanks again x

Annisele

You're right; you don't have copyright in business names. You might be able to register it as a trademark, and if it's a limited company you can register it at Companies House.

I think that what you're talking about is more like "passing off" - where one business tries to "pass off" itself or its product as something else. (Think the Asda Puffin / Penguin case - I feel old having googled that to discover it was almost 15 years ago!)

Trying to sue somebody for passing off gets expensive very quickly, but the same is true if they try to sue you. But I'm with heretolearn; if at all possible I'd just change my name in the situation you describe.

paulwf

They could actually have genuinely not known of your existence as Facebook is a nightmare to find groups on unless you already know the company name rather than just doing a random trawl.

Either way there isn't any point getting tied up in the rights or wrongs as you're here to make money so it is the practicalities that matter. I would put it down to experience and learn from this lesson. Get a new name and get the domain name and website straight away and register a dormant ltd company (a dormant LTd is different to an active one). Have a look at the costs of registering a trademark, it may not be worth it but as this topic crops up so often it is worth investigating.

XxXfashionqueenXxX

Why dont you get copyright? Then they'd owe you.

PasturesNew

They might have been going longer and you didn't discover them until now.

What date did they register their domain name? That's not evidence they're after you, but could be evidence they were before you.

Nappy cakes.... every SAHM's doing them, probably dozens of people with the same/similar name yet to be discovered.

Premier_2

Clarel26 wrote: »

Another business now using my name!!!!
...

I have today found a business page on facebook, that wasnt on there when I joined, and name is the same as mine, apart from I have an extra word added to the end...

So it sounds like it is a different name, but may not be as some words e.g. 'services' are disregarded. What's the extra word?

Alternatively google to find out what words are disregarded when considering if the name is the 'same as'.

Clarel26

Thank you everyone for your help and advice.

I am now trying to think up a name that is maybe more personal to myself ie includes name or initials....hopefully this will prevent the same thing happening to me again further down the line.

Thanks again xxx

Savvy_Sue

XxXfashionqueenXxX wrote: »

Why dont you get copyright? Then they'd owe you.

I think we've established that you can't get copyright on a business name. And since the OP doesn't have a website, they can't have nicked her pictures. And as PN says, lots of people are making nappy cakes these days - I'm not saying they weren't around when mine were in nappies, but I certainly never came across them!

anamenottaken

Off topic but "Nappy cakes" sounds a disgusting idea to me.

(I know what they are but when I first saw the phrase a year or so ago I had to look at pictures to understand that they were ways of, for instance, presenting gifts of baby items for new mothers.)