Legal Question in Business Law in New York

Re: Copywright Policy

I understand what you're discussing. There is an old 'myth' that once you have mailed something to yourself, or to another, through the federal post office - that this work is automatically copyrighted. However, this is NOT TRUE and sadly i run into clients who have similar problems quite often.

Furthermore, another problem you have is that even if it were true you can not copyright a business name, you can trademark it... but not copyright it.

It seems as if you did not do your homework with this, and may now be in trouble as a result. If this other organization has trademarked the name you may be out of luck with the rights to using this name...

However, there are some options which may be available to you. Feel free to contact my office regarding this matter #2127098303

Re: Copywright Policy

First, you can't copyright a business name. Copyrights are used to protect creative work like books, plays, musical compositions, sculptures, paintings, photographs, and things like that.

You probably mean "trademark." It is possible to trademark business names through a formal registration process that takes about a year and costs several hundred dollars in government fees. Look at www.uspto.gov and click on trademark information.

When a business name, business service, or product name is trademarked, it has protection against infringing uses, but this does not guarantee nationwide or worldwide protection against all uses of the same name. For example, "Acme Knitwear" as a trademark for a manufacturer of sweaters in Florida would not necessarily prevent someone in California from using the name "Acme Knitwear" for baby socks.

In your case, if you think there is some overlap between what you're using the name for and what the other user is doing, you should probably contact her and discuss the problem. If, however, she has a valid trademark (not copyright), she may have the upper hand, and might even be in a position to force you to stop using the name if there is territorial and subject matter overlap, or a possibility of confusion.

Re: Copyright Policy

This question requires a much more detailed factual background, all the info- before a reasonable answer can be attempted. Couple of pointers though. You are confusing the concepts of trademark and copyright. As soon as a work of fiction is written it has a common law copyright. It can still be registered. However, that does not happen with a business name or product name, neither of which are deemed to have creative content. These are "marked" through federal registration. That does not give exclusivity however; it merely is proof of who registered it first.

I believe you are discussing a trademark. A business name or the name of a product like Bayer aspirin that doesn't want to pay for someone else's ads can prevent it by obtaining an injunction against someone else using the same name.

You need to explain this better, and research what your talking about, what it is the other business actually has done and perhaps you can still find a way to validly trademark your business.