Legal Question in Business Law in California

Hello Law Guru,

I am in the process of starting a coupon publication where I will be mailing a small booklet to selected addresses servicing the surrounding areas where I live. In my publication, I am planning on advertising for handypersons, contractors, and pool cleaners. However, as I was working on my publication, another company started a similar book in my area. My first reaction was that somebody had beaten me to it! While flipping through the competitions booklet I found it to be more of a multipurpose publication than my idea. I contacted the company and asked that the representative send me his prices. I never told the individual what my intentions were, because I only wanted to see what the going rates were for a similar publication.

As it turns out, the company is a franchise operation called Monthly Coupons http://www.monthlycoupons.com/ and they mail to 50,000 addresses per month totaling 100,000 unduplicated addresses every two months. My idea was to try and improve my competitors plan and offer 40,000 unduplicated mailings over a three month period which totals 120,000 addresses every three months. To make a long story short, it appears that the competition is now offering a similar plan to mine except they are mailing the same 50,000, but are now reaching a total of 150,000 addresses over a three month cycle.

My question is can I still offer my business plan even though it is kind of similar to my competitors?

Thanks in advance for all your help with this matter!

J


Asked on 5/25/12, 2:30 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

There's no law protecting business ideas. Trademarks, sure; also, patents and copyrights, and sometimes trade secrets, may limit one from certain kinds of competitive activity. However, just because there is a grocery store on the northeast corner of Fifth and Main doesn't mean someone else can't open a grocery store on the southwest corner. However, does it make sense? Starting a business going head-to-head with an established competitor may not be the smartest business move -- or it may be absolutely brilliant, if you have a strategy and the capital to knock them out.

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Answered on 5/25/12, 3:16 pm


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