Legal Question in Business Law in Ohio

If I wanted to trade mark a name that had part of another trade marked name in the name for same industry could I be sued for trademark infringement? For example say I wanted to trademark (Green GE) and the GE stands for General Electric. General Electric has a trade mark for the term GE in the electronics industry. Would this be trade mark infringement if I trademarked and used (Green GE)or not due to it having Green in front of GE and both companies being in the electronic industry. The reason I ask this is because you can currently apply for a trade mark as (Green GE) and not know weather this is infringement or no, or not get approved for the trade mark. So is this example trade mark infringement and could I be sued for using a name like this one by General Electric?

Thanks Matt


Asked on 9/23/13, 12:53 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Patrick Tracy Patrick J. Tracy, Esq, P.E.,

The test that is used is whether there is a likelihood of confusion that consumers would mistake your goods for those of the registered trademark, in this case General Electric. Because the channels of trade are the same it is not advisable to do this. In the case of GE you would probably get sued.

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Answered on 9/23/13, 1:00 pm
David Michael Benson Benson Law Firm

I would have to agree with Mr. Tracy. In the eyes of GE, this is just the type of market confusion that trademark law was designed to avoid. Green GE could be misconstrued as GE's division or subsidiary concentrating on green products.

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Answered on 9/23/13, 1:43 pm


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