Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Protect my business name

Based on the limited facts, you may indeed have a claim to protect your business name, even without a registered trademark, CA law protects you against unfair business practices and unfair use of similar or misleading business names. As well, the $8,000.00 may be recoverable. If you are in the area, please feel free to contact our office for further consultation.

Re: Protect my business name

from the information submitted thus far, you may have a wide variety of causes of action against your former partner, especially in respect to business tort law. please email me with more information on how you two started and then parted ways. also, include any oral or written agreements you two may have had in place regarding the name of the business or restrictions in place. give me an overview of the entire situation and i will be able to further assist you legally and quite possibly help you recover the $8000 owed to you as well.

Re: Protect my business name

In regards to the business name issue, I recommend that you have an attorney fire off a letter to her ASAP. Warn her that any infringement of your trademark or unfair/deceptive business practices will be met with appropriate action. (You have trademark rights even if you do not have a registered trademark.) Take the wind out of her sails now.

I hope you don't forget the sting of that $8,000 loss. You've only truly learned your lesson if you take steps to minimize your risk of similar results in the future.

Regards,

Ben

Re: Protect my business name

I take a little more cautious view of your position. The difference between the two names you give -- which I suppose are just examples and not the real names -- is rather great, and even though confusion is possible, I am not at all sure you would prevail in a trademark or service mark case, especially if you have no federal (Lanham Act) registration and have only been in business since 8/02. There are some objective standards in trademark law; for example, if the XYZ part of the names is some highly concocted and unique term or phrase like "Yellow Mongoose" you are more likely to be protected than if the XYZ is some everyday term or phrase like "East Side" or "Acme."

Having an attorney write a threatening letter might work, but before you actually spend the money to initiate legal action, get advice from someone who really practices intellectual property law.