Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Texas
I have a trademark covering a series of fictional novels and a magazine, as well as an associated role playing game. My question is, does such a trademark also cover close derivatives of the trademark. For instance, if you have a trademark for "Black Hole" does it protect a similar product title "Black Holes." In my particilar case, there is already confusion among would-be buyers -- I know this because I get reader inquiries concerning the competing, non-trademarked product! I want to get all my ducks in a row before I contact the other company.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Given that trademark law is intended to protect the general public from confusion of the source of goods and services in the marketplace, a mark that a court would find to be "confusingly similar" to your mark would indeed infringe your mark.
Keep the inquiries you get about the other product; they are valuable evidence of actual confusion which, although the courts say is just one among several factors they must weigh to determine consumer confusion, cannot help but weigh somewhat more heavily in your favor.
Trademark litigation is NOT do-it-yourself law. You NEED a lawyer. There are lots of good IP lawyers in Texas; to find one that suits your needs, you might try a zip code search at the US Patent & Trademark Office's roster of patent attorneys (patent lawyer often handle trademark matters, too). I did a search on the first three digits in your zip code and came up with 67 registered attorneys/agents (be careful there, btw, you need an ATTORNEY, not an agent, for litigation). You'll find the searchable roster at https://oedci.uspto.gov/OEDCI/ .
Good luck with it!
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