Patent Attorney and Founder
Hi there. You’re starting an education company and want to protect the name you’ve used for about nine years. You also found another company with a similar name on the trademark search. They seem to sell custom products, not education services. Now you’re wondering if your work is different enough to get your own trademark or if you should just pick a new name.
Here’s the simple version.
It’s hard to give a clear yes or no without seeing the exact marks and how they’re used. But if you’ve used your name for nine years, you may have stronger rights than the other company. You’d want to check when they first used the name in the real world, not just when they filed. Some filings, especially foreign ones, look official but don’t always stand up when you check their proof of use in the U.S.
If your use is older and real, you may not need to rebrand at all. A trademark attorney can check their proof of use and help you confirm whether your rights come first. If you do have stronger rights, the next steps might be:
- asking for a consent agreement
- challenging their registration
- or filing your own application
It depends on what their record shows.
You asked about “better rights.” That simply means “who used it first.” In the U.S., the first person to use a name in the market usually has the stronger rights, even if someone else files before them. So someone could file earlier and still have weaker rights than you.
That may be what’s happening in your case. You may have nine years of real-world use, which could make you the senior user. But if they filed first, their application is “ahead” of yours at the USPTO, even though your rights may be stronger.
Once you know (1) who used it first and (2) who filed first, you’ll know your path. An attorney can look at this pretty quickly and point you in the right direction.