Legal Question in Business Law in Florida

Re: Business Lic.

A business license does not protect your name. In california, you are protected within the county if you have filed a fictitious name statement, in the state if you have established a corporation or an LLC. In order to protect the name anationally, you would need to trademark it.

Re: Business Lic.

It could constitute trademark infringement and unfair competition if both companies' trade names are being used to sell products. The "dot-com" status is irrelevant. I would need more details before I could advise you further.

D. Alexander Floum is an experienced intellectual property and e-commerce attorney. Alex teaches trademark and unfair competition law to practicing lawyers and law school students.

The Schinner Law Group is a full-service law firm, providing assistance in business, corporate, tax, litigation, contracts, intellectual property and related areas of law.

NOTE: This communication is not intended as and should not be interpreted as legal advice. Rather, it is intended solely as a general discussion of legal principles. You should not rely on or take action based on this communication without first presenting ALL relevant details to a competent attorney in your jurisdiction and then receiving the attorney�s individualized advice for you. By reading the �Response� to your question or comment, you agree that the opinion expressed is not intended to, nor does it, create any attorney-client relationship, nor does it constitute legal advice to any person reviewing such information, nor will it be considered an attorney-client privileged communication. Pursuant to California Rules of Professional Conduct rule 1-400(d)(4), this communication is intended as a solicitation for legal services.

Re: Business Lic.

In addition to the foregoing good advice, please consider the following:

1) Business name protection can flow either from bona-fide use or from registration under the trademark laws. The isolated act of obtaining a business license in Florida (presumably from a city rather than the state?) is relatively insignificant and does little or nothing to establish your right to the name.

2) There are numerous examples of similarly- or identically-named businesses in the U.S. which co-exist peacefully, either because neither feels threatened by the other or because they are unaware of the other.

3) Further, there is nothing legally 'wrong' about two businesses having the same name if they don't compete and no serious likelihood of public confusion arises.

4) Finally, in order for a company to collect money damages for another company's inadvertent or non-malicious use of its name, it would have to prove actual monetary harm in court, which is not easy and usually not worthwhile unless large sums are at stake.

If you are concerend about the conflict, take all the information about both companies to an intellectual property lawyer and ask for advice.

Finally, if one or both companies are engaged in dot-com activities, even just owning Web addresses, special legal questions can indeed arise; just for one example, out of the recent anti-cybersquatting laws passed by Congress.

Re: Business Lic.

I would need to further explore your facts and the outcome that you are looking for.

Instead of going into a full blown analysis for you, you will need to make your own business decision as to whether you are looking for money damages, which is a detailed and expensive litigation process; or, are you simply looking to prevent the other entity from using your corporate name. If you are interested in further discussing your needs, then you may contact me at (305) 769-3000. Good luck.

Sincerely,

Randall L. Gilbert, Esq.