Domain/Brand advice

[max99x]

Hi all,

Looking for a bit of advice, say I want to use a domain for example Faster.co.uk to start a business called say Faster ltd which would go into businesses in the UK and make them more efficient , but then Faster.com was a US business which sold a book on how to be more efficient personally and for businesses as well as going into businesses and doing talks ...

Would there be an issue using the Faster.co.uk domain/brand?

Thanks in advance

 

[dee]

Is it trademarked here/ in the US? Not that I know much about this stuff , but that would be worth checking in the classes you'd be operating.

 

[keys]

Faster, as your example, is a dictionary word giving you much scope to use it as a brand. Any UK registered TM's will restrict possible usage, as would an existing business with that name if they are already offering similar products/services, or operating in the same geographical area.

The important point is to avoid any possible confusion for potential customers. Intentionally ignoring this is grounds for DRS and other remedial actions. If in doubt seek expert advice, which this is not.

 

[max99x]

Thanks for the replies, yeh this was along the lines of my thinking, I believe no TM's that apply to the UK and also there would be a difference in businesses so it should be okay hopefully

 

[DomainAngel]

If the .com owner operates in the UK then you wont have to worry about DRS as you may fall under the law of Passing Off even if you dont intentionally mean to do so.

The only good news is, if you can clearly demonstrate you are not pretending to be the established company trading from the .com the CPS wont prosecute and a private suit would be very expensive, so unless they are huge you should be ok.

As for DRS, if its solely online, not a cake shop etc I would guess it would be pretty hard to defend, unless you could demonstrate it was a field you had experience in and a term that only matched that type business.

Lack of TM's mean nowt when it comes to passing off

Great advert for faster though, and no use of the .com, is faster.co.uk very expensive I wonder?