Company Name

[Puglife]

Hello, my name is Jackson Pugliese, and I currently own a LLC. We own the LLC, and everything is filed for it since about November. Just a few days ago, I searched Google for my company, to see how our seo was going, and saw another company of the same name. I then went to their website, and they are a Canadian company specializing in the electric motor cycle market. We are an american company based in the quick charge external battery pack market.

They have apparently been founded since 2010, but did not have good exposure, so I was not able to find them.

We will be selling our product online, so we will not only be shipping our products to america, but shipping them all over the world, including Canada. So what I was wondering, is how will this work, are their any legal ramifications, can I legally ship things to Canada, since we have the same name? Could I get sued, or hurt because we have the same name?

Any help will be much appreciated,

Thanks,
Jackson Pugliese

[Harold Mansfield]

There are better legal minds here than me, but my first step would be to do a trademark search and see if they have a claim on the name AND as what.
Search Trademark Database | USPTO (http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/search-trademark-database)

There are many companies out there with the same name. The problem comes when 2 companies do the same thing or similar things and one has a trademark on that name.
I'd do the search, but ultimately you want to ask an attorney about this and get some clear legal advice.

[Fulcrum]

Check with an experienced lawyer, but I do believe that our law (Canadian) will favour the older company. I remember there was a case of a dispute between a furniture retailer and a furniture builder (possibly 2 retailers and the little guy won).

[Puglife]

I did a search, and they dont have a us trademark, but where not only operating in america, where also shipping things to their country, and im not sure how it works over their, or if their are international rules associated with it.

[Harold Mansfield]

I should have also posted to search Canadian trademarks
Basic search - Canadian trade-marks database - Intellectual property and copyright - Canadian Intellectual Property Office - Industry Canada (http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdmrks/srch/)

No matter how you slice it, you're going to need to contact an attorney to be sure that you won't likely have a problem going forward. Better to know now, than find out a year from now.

[journalist55]

Just wondering, do you have a logo for your company?