I think I have a business name, but don't want to be sued.

M

Maxima Lover

New member
Since I live in St Louis, Missouri, i wanted to go with "St. Louis Auto Detailing". It's simple, easy to remember, and people know what it's about. The problem is, it's already taken. Could I make it "St. Louis Mobile Detailing" and be ok? I'm going to be mobile so it really allows people to know even more about me.

If that won't work, I'll probably just go with "Brett's Auto Detailing". All the things I read about coming up with a name said to keep it simple and easy to remember.
 
PEI Detail said:
Does your State have a registered name & trademark search?
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Yes, but I don't think it searches trademarks, just business names people have registered. "St. Louis Auto Detailing" was taken, and in good standing when I searched it. "St. Louis Mobile Detailing" was not taken, but I was afraid it was going to be too much like the first name. I'm going to be printing up stuff soon, and I don't want to have to redo it because it's to similar. Maybe if it's not trademarked (highly doubt you could get that name trademarked), it won't matter as long as it isn't the exact same.

EDIT: Once again I opened to many threads at once and took to long to post. Thanks superswamper.
 
Maxima Lover said:
..."St. Louis Auto Detailing"..."St. Louis Mobile Detailing"
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The two names are very similar and offer basically the same service and product. This can be viewed as causing confusion in the eye of the consumer and you could be sured. Even if you can legally use the name that doesn't prevent the other company from suing you, even if they can't win you still have to spend money to defend it. Is it worth it to you?

I'd say find another name that is not so confusingly close, such as "The Mobile Detailers of St. Louis." Possibly even "The Great St. Louis Mobile Detailing Company."
 
DFTowel said:
The two names are very similar and offer basically the same service and product. This can be viewed as causing confusion in the eye of the consumer and you could be sured. Even if you can legally use the name that doesn't prevent the other company from suing you, even if they can't win you still have to spend money to defend it. Is it worth it to you?

I'd say find another name that is not so confusingly close, such as "The Mobile Detailers of St. Louis." Possibly even "The Great St. Louis Mobile Detailing Company."
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Good point and thank you. Something I didn't want to hear, but had to. Those other names sound good, but I was trying to stay a little shorter.

So much stuff to worry about when starting a business.
 
DFTowel said:
The two names are very similar and offer basically the same service and product. This can be viewed as causing confusion in the eye of the consumer and you could be sured. Even if you can legally use the name that doesn't prevent the other company from suing you, even if they can't win you still have to spend money to defend it. Is it worth it to you?

I'd say find another name that is not so confusingly close, such as "The Mobile Detailers of St. Louis." Possibly even "The Great St. Louis Mobile Detailing Company."
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Very good advice. If the other person has registered the business name with the state (likely since it isn't expensive to do that) or if they have a trademark on the name, then using it in a similar industry could get you sued. If you wanted to create a business that makes car wax and call it Pinnacle Car Care then you would get sued. If you were going to open a garage that dealt with lube and oil changes and called it that then you wouldn't likely get sued since they are not competing businesses. Maybe that is a weird example, but you get the idea. If you are naming your business then you need to stay away from anything that sounds like a similar business and make sure your logo doesn't look like a similar business's logo.
 
Here's a thought... instead of using the St. Louis city name use a something else like "The Arch" or does St. Louis have a nickname (like NYC is the Big Apple, NO is the The Big Easy) you can use that instead and still have local identity.
 
DFTowel, St. Louis doesn't really have a nickname other than STL. "The Gateway to the West" is kind of our slogan but isn't really used around here very much.

GearHead, "Show Me State" is actually our unofficial state slogan (used on licenses plates and such), but that could work. Something like "Show me detailing" or such.
 
How about someting like "STL Detailing: Shine That Lasts"

The logo posibilities are endless...

zjylp5.jpg
 
Jngrbrdman said:
How about someting like "STL Detailing: Shine That Lasts"

The logo posibilities are endless...

zjylp5.jpg
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Wow that's pretty good. Should my name be the whole thing or just "STL Detailing," and "A Shine That Lasts" as my slogan?"

What program did you do that with?
 
I just quickly threw it together in Photoshop. Graphic design is another hobby of mine. PM me if you want to talk about getting a logo made.

I would just call it STL Detailing and then have the slogan be the 'Shine That Lasts' part. There are a lot of ways you can work that. Being able to incorporate the city name and the arch was the idea I was going for. We can tweak it a lot of different ways and really give it a sharp look if you want.
 
DFTowel said:
The two names are very similar and offer basically the same service and product. This can be viewed as causing confusion in the eye of the consumer and you could be sured. Even if you can legally use the name that doesn't prevent the other company from suing you, even if they can't win you still have to spend money to defend it. Is it worth it to you?

I'd say find another name that is not so confusingly close, such as "The Mobile Detailers of St. Louis." Possibly even "The Great St. Louis Mobile Detailing Company."
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I would agree 100% with this. And i am going to explain a little to make it even clearer. I have a good freind who owns his own Auto Repair Shop called Pit Shop Auto Repair and it has been in it's location for 8 years and has a very well established customer base along with parts suppliers including many dealerships. So last year this guy opens a shop about 1/2 mile away and decides to call his shop The Pit Shop. Now at first we did not think anything about it but things have gotten worse and worse as time goes by. His customers call us and complain about his crap work and the parts suppliers deliver his parts to us. Many have asked if we have a new Owner and at this point the boss has hired and attorney and is going to sue the guy because it is causing confusion both with customers and suppliers. My personal thought is this. You already knew the answer to this question. Ethically and Morally it is wrong!

By the way i am not judging you i am just expressing my veiw on the matter. So please do not take it that way.

Richard
 
Jngrbrdman said:
I just quickly threw it together in Photoshop. Graphic design is another hobby of mine. PM me if you want to talk about getting a logo made.

I would just call it STL Detailing and then have the slogan be the 'Shine That Lasts' part. There are a lot of ways you can work that. Being able to incorporate the city name and the arch was the idea I was going for. We can tweak it a lot of different ways and really give it a sharp look if you want.
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Thanks, I want to check to make sure STL detailing would be alright before I take it any further.
 
97F1504x4 said:
I would agree 100% with this. And i am going to explain a little to make it even clearer. I have a good freind who owns his own Auto Repair Shop called Pit Shop Auto Repair and it has been in it's location for 8 years and has a very well established customer base along with parts suppliers including many dealerships. So last year this guy opens a shop about 1/2 mile away and decides to call his shop The Pit Shop. Now at first we did not think anything about it but things have gotten worse and worse as time goes by. His customers call us and complain about his crap work and the parts suppliers deliver his parts to us. Many have asked if we have a new Owner and at this point the boss has hired and attorney and is going to sue the guy because it is causing confusion both with customers and suppliers. My personal thought is this. You already knew the answer to this question. Ethically and Morally it is wrong!

By the way i am not judging you i am just expressing my veiw on the matter. So please do not take it that way.

Richard
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I know it probably isn't the best, but we are over 35 minutes away from each other. My intent wasn't to take business away from him by confusing the customers. The only reason I wanted "St. Louis Detailing" in my name, was because I wanted my website to be easy to find when people searched "St. Louis Detailing". I think I'm going to stay away from it completely though.

BTW, no harm. Sometimes I'm too careful, but most of the time I'm not. That's why I ask for the opinions from you guys.
 
All you really need to do is call the department that deals with business name registrations and see if the name you want is taken. If they haven't registered it with the state and you want it, then it could be you suing them for the rights to the name. I used to work in trademark and copyright law and this kind of thing happens all the time. It isn't unethical or immoral or anything like that. If they aren't smart enough to register their business name then they really don't have any reason to gripe if someone else starts using it.
 
Jngrbrdman said:
All you really need to do is call the department that deals with business name registrations and see if the name you want is taken. If they haven't registered it with the state and you want it, then it could be you suing them for the rights to the name. I used to work in trademark and copyright law and this kind of thing happens all the time. It isn't unethical or immoral or anything like that. If they aren't smart enough to register their business name then they really don't have any reason to gripe if someone else starts using it.
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Well the name "St. Louis Auto Detailing" is registered as a corporation with the state (https://www.sos.mo.gov/BusinessEntity/soskb/Corp.asp?1338168). I'm just not sure how much it has to be changed up in order for them not to have a reason sue. "STL Detailing" means the same thing as "St. Louis Detailing" and that's what I'm afraid of.
 
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