Associating with the Best

[Old Monkey]

An ad for this tree service popped up on the bottom of a page.

http://www.daveetree-dex.com/?src=tp0


Do you think he'll make some bank off of the confusion?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Wow, I wonder how legal that is?

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

OK, I'm an idiot...what's the confusion? I was expecting to see a tananger sillouette or something.

 

[Old Monkey]

Its regional Jeff. Davey Tree is one of the biggest National Tree companies. They mainly do line clearance though.

 

[stehansen]

DaveeTree the small tree company being confused with Davey Tree the insanely large tree company.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Ahhhhhhhh....(where's the "I understand now" smiley?)

 

[MasterBlaster]

where's the "I understand now" smiley?

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

 

[Tom_Scheller]

You can get away with that if you were in business first. Est. 1990 isn't going to cut it. I believe Davey's been at it a long time.

If he was 1st, even against a large national company you might be able to get a regional exemption. Usually, the big company just pays the little one to stop using the name.

...maybe his favorite tree is the "E"lm.

 

[TC3]

...maybe his favorite tree is the "E"lm.

RALMAO !!!
"Associating with the best" ??? I beg to differ.
I seriously considered calling my biz 'Consumers Tree Care'.
Consumers is our biggest (only ?) supplier of natural gas. I'm not up to the challenge of finding out if they'd fight me on it.

 

[Mr. Sir]

If Davey Tree decides that Dave "E" Tree needs to change his name, they CAN and WILL make it happen.

I started my business back in 1985 as "Trees 'R' Us. Nine years later, I received a form letter from Toys R Us demanding that I cease and desist the use of that name immediately. I ignored the first few notices, then hired an attorney and fought with them for about a year before finally realizing that they had more attorneys and a much larger budget than I did. The official term for my infraction was "dilution of trademark." I'm not sure what the terminology is in the Davey case, since they are both in the tree business, probably trade name infringement or some such thing.

 

[Frans]

They list trimming and pruning as two different services ?

My friend had a business called 'Fat Sacks'. He sold sports gear. Sax Fifth Ave. sent him a letter telling him to change the name under threat of being sued.

 

[squisher]

Frans, the wakeboard ballast sacks?

 

[sotc]

seems odd that they can do that with out registering that particular name.

 

[Koa Man]

My friend had a business called 'Fat Sacks'. He sold sports gear. Sax Fifth Ave. sent him a letter telling him to change the name under threat of being sued.

The names are way too different for Sax Fifth Ave to sue. I would have told them to be my guest. Worse that could happen would be the court orders you to change the name, but I doubt that would have happened.

 

[Mr. Sir]

The names are way too different for Sax Fifth Ave to sue. I would have told them to be my guest. Worse that could happen would be the court orders you to change the name, but I doubt that would have happened.

I hope you have a large bank account. The court would likely order you to pay all costs, including attorney's fees for both sides.

 

[Koa Man]

Unless Sak's has Fat Sacks or something real similar registered as one of their trade or product names, how can any reasonable person mistake the name Fat Sacks for Sak's Fifth Ave?

In Hawaii we have a business registration division run by the state. You submit a name you want to use, they run checks to see if anyone has a similar name or one that it might be confused with. If not, they issued you a certificate good for 10 years [renewable]. FWIW, we have Akamai Pest Control, Akamai Painting, Akamai Tree Service, Akamai this and Akamai that. [akamai means smart or intelligent in Hawaiian] We also have Oahu Tree Service and Oahu Crane Service. All these companies are owned by different people.

So yes, if they threatened to sue me in Hawaii, I would tell them go for it. They would not win any award if I had my name registered with the state.

 

[Mr. Sir]

Unless Sak's has Fat Sacks or something real similar registered as one of their trade or product names, how can any reasonable person mistake the name Fat Sacks for Sak's Fifth Ave?

In Hawaii we have a business registration division run by the state. You submit a name you want to use, they run checks to see if anyone has a similar name or one that it might be confused with. If not, they issued you a certificate good for 10 years [renewable]. FWIW, we have Akamai Pest Control, Akamai Painting, Akamai Tree Service, Akamai this and Akamai that. [akamai means smart or intelligent in Hawaiian] We also have Oahu Tree Service and Oahu Crane Service. All these companies are owned by different people.

So yes, if they threatened to sue me in Hawaii, I would tell them go for it. They would not win any award if I had my name registered with the state.

While I certainly do admire your confidence, I'm quite sure it would be a humbling experience for you if this were ever put to the test.

I, too, had registered my trade name with the state, county, and city. I, too, made the assumption that a reasonable person would not confuse Trees R Us and Toys R Us.

 

[Koa Man]

Trees R Us and Toys R Us are similar. Fat Sacks and Sak's Fifth Ave are not.
I know of several other companies in various states with the name Trees R Us. Whenever I travel I always check the YP tree ads for ideas and names.

 

[Frans]

Sorry I dont have an answer.... unless the idea of doing battle with lawyers just skeered him off...

 

[treesandsurf]

Cool avatar Frans.

jp

 

[Old Monkey]

Remember when the International Olympic Association sued everyone who had "olympic" in their name?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Cool avatar Frans.

jp

If a tree's root system was like your avatar, they would never be blown over!

 

[Paul B]

Remember when the International Olympic Association sued everyone who had "olympic" in their name?

yup, the 2008 winter olympics are here and near, the IOC went through last year and sued the ass off anyone with the word olympic or any logo that even remotely resembled the olympic rings. Seems everyone turtled, yay olympics.

NOT.
We will not be in town when the olympics are here if there is anything I can do about it, viva las vegas. or something. to the olympics. sillyness all round.

 

[squisher]

Umm Paul you're really not into the olymics are you? They're not coming this year but in 2010