Legal Question in Business Law in Florida
Can you bring a lawsuit against a business that uses your registered ficticious name in your same county?
3 Answers from Attorneys
Yes. It is advisable to give notice in writing to the potential defendant of the infringement, that legal action will be initiated in a certain number of days unless the illegal use of your
your business name ceases. Of course, the legal action depends on the nature and
extent of the illegal use of your name for business purposes.
Yes. Your action is at least one of common-law trademark infringement under your state's trademark laws; other causes of action may also be available to you. As Mr. Martin said, you should first send a cease-and-desist letter to your defendant. Trademark litigation can be long and expensive for both parties; if you can settle the matter to your satisfaction before filing a lawsuit, you should do so.
You NEED a lawyer to help you with this. Find an intellectual property lawyer in your county. You can find a listing of patent lawyers, many of whom also handle trademark matters, at https://oedci.uspto.gov/OEDCI/ ; this is a search page for the registered patent lawyers on the US Patent & Trademark Office's roster. I'd do this search by entering only the first three digits of your zip code then hitting the Search button. Not all of these folks are in private practice; some may work for local companies (this list does not generally indicate that), so you'll have to call around to find someone.
THIS POST CONTAINS GENERAL INFORMATION AND IS INTENDED FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE, NOR DOES IT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. FOR LEGAL ADVICE ON YOUR PARTICULAR MATTER, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.
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