Trademark q for any legal bods...

missimaxo

I have done a trademark search and one particular co. has registered the term "FYEO Portraits" as a trademark.

Does this mean that to advertise "FYEO" (without the portraits) on a website would be breaching their trademark, and would it be better to term it "Boudoir photography"?

Thanks

T xx

Astaroth

Intellectual property law is a very complicated field of law and rarely is there a yes no answer.

In the cases of trademarks you are generally looking at how likely it is that a lay person will assume that the two are the same or connected companies. For this you consider elements such as industry - if one is a pig farmer the other a photographer then it is less likely to cause confusion than if they are both photographers. Likewise geography, if you are both based/ cover a small village it is more likely an issue than if you only cover a tiny island in scotland and the other company only trades out of south africa.

As there is no "correct" answer then it comes down to a risk assessment... is FYEO going to bring in so much more business than Boudoir Photography that it is worth the risk of being sued?