Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: Trademark question

It's impossible to advise about a fictional name in a way that will be meaningful or accurate as applied to the particular name you're actually using.

If it includes descriptive terms, or common family names, such as "smith bros. appliances" it will likely not be registrable. Similarly, "international marketing" is primarily merely descriptive, so not registrable, at least at first.

Trademark rights generally come from use of a DISTINCTIVE mark in commerce, and after a descriptive or suggestive name has been used widely, it CAN become distinctive, by acheiving "Secondary Meaning" among the consuming public.

Consult an attorney. Only then can you get some real, custom-tailored advice that will help you decide how to proceed.

Re: Trademark question

Hello,

The best way to answer your question in theory is to have you think of how you want people to relate to your service. If you want people to hear "Joe & Buffman", and use that phrase on promotional materials then you just need those two words. There are a number of issues so give me a call and we can discuss in more detail.

Re: Trademark question

The other attorneys are correct. I would just like to point out to you that trademarks are for goods and services, not business names. The words can be both, though. In your example of "Joe & Buffman International Marketing, Inc.", it is not protectable by trademark as a company name, but it may be protectable as a trademark for marketing services (subject of course to all the other considerations of trademark protectability).

It's often a rather academic distinction, but I have found that my corporate clients have a hard time understanding it.