(OT?) Using "American" in business name

I don't think you can since you post via Google-Groups ;-)

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Har de har de har har...

And what's wrong with using Google Groups? I see it this way: groups.google.com provides all the archiving and backup, for free. Not bad for a subcontractor.

M

Just having my first laugh of the morning ;-)

You can call yourself anything you like, provided it isn't already someone else's service mark.

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

wrote

Yes, you can, and many others do, use the word American in your business name. And the only royalty you would owe is computed each year on your corporate income tax return.

If your name appears to be that of a government entity, you'll probably have to include a disclaimer so as not to get those confused people in the world any more confused. An example is the Bureau of National Affairs *bna.com* that has to keep reminding folks that they aren't really part of the government.

--
Paul Thomas, CPA
paulthomascpapc@bellsouth.net

Ok, thanks.

Funny... after a little bit (admittedly, not a whole lot) of searching, I couldn't find the disclaimer language in bna.com. Poor, poor confused people in the world. ;-)

Michael

Note that "american" refers generically to the continent (North and South America) and the US is only one of many countries that can claim to be "american".

"American" is a generic word. The US government does not hold any kind of claim on it.

Furthermore most things produced by the US government are "public domain" by law. For example photographs of space, earth, etc. taken by NASA astronauts, etc.

To use a fictitious name in must jurisdictions, you must register with the secretary of state and they will not register a name that somebody else in your state is already using (or very similar). A trademark is a completely separate issue.

You are probably free to use whatever description you like in the US, but we aren't so lucky here in the UK.

For years a friend of mine ran a specialist magazine whose title began with the word "International" because he included information on the subject from all over the world. He was suddenly told he would be prosecuted under the Trade Descriptions Act because the magazine was not on sale outside the UK (even though he would accept subscriptions from anywhere).

He had to change the title.

--
~ Adrian Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

It looks like you are posting from California, so you have to check with the govenators staff to see if the name you want to use is registered by someone else. I have no idea what the department name would be, but whoever issues business licenses should be able to tell you.. BTDT, got issued a liquor license to open an electronics business by the state of Ohio.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

To" "Formerly International, until some anal retentive bureaucrat had a bad day!" ;-)

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Yup, in California, but very, very interested in what Google is doing over by The Dalles over in Oregon.

A liquor license to open an electronics business? What were you doing... using ethanol as a CPU cooler?

Another Michael

Excellent point! Thank you for the reminder.

You're right. I'm beginning to remember now. I used to register "

" to get around this requirement, since it had my last name in it. I got out of the business, when, 3 years later, I discovered selling video games by internet just wasn't for me. (And dealing with the joys of international mail getting lost.)

Not to mention, that your average high school kid has a hard time spelling Darrett or Enterprises... ;-)

Michael

I if the name is used in anther state that is ok?

What about naming a new jersey company Microsoft Corporation, I suppose that gets into trademark issues, don't know

Generally true, and certainly true with the word "American," however, certain other words cannot be used pursuant to state statute. The most common prohibited word is "bank" which can only be used by a business that is licensed to engage in the business of banking. A check with the website of the relevant state corporation commission should give you a list of words that are restricted or prohibited.

Jim Thomps>

Apparently, some clerk in Columbus pulled the wrong stack of blank forms, and sent out a bunch of invalid liquor licenses instead of business licenses that day. I got a letter the next day telling me to return it, or I was going to jail. It was worthless, assigned to a residential area, in 1970. I was about to graduate high school, and my dad wasn't amused. The property taxes would have went WAY up, even though we did have enough room to park about 15 cars in the driveway. ;-)

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

That's interesting. There are lots of Food Banks, and a local business is called "The Crystal Bank". They sell new parts and crystals for pagers and cell phones, and broker used pager and cell phone equipment, and crystals.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

That depends. If both businesses are neither adevertising nor selling in the other state, and there is no other overlap to be expected. E.g. ther can be many hair salons "Mona" even in the same state (unless it is a chain, in which case they would register a trademark)

Yes, it is a trademark issue. For every name you trademark, you have to give a list of fields of business that you are in. So if you deal with jerseys, and let's assume that there is already a company called Microsoft, all you have to do is ask at the trademark office, if that company registered in clothes.

Again, if your business does not overlap, and there is no risk of confusing your jerseys with an operating system, you can go ahead. But IANAL, just a trademark owner, and they may tell you otherwise.

Nope, that is not anal retentive at all. Your name must not pretend that you're someone that you are not. If you use "International" or "Worldwide", you better be dealing world wide. How would you like a company in China calling itself "All American PC's"? Not good, eh?

That is one reason why "funny spelling" is so common in U.S. company names. For the sake of this example, I'd recommend "WrldWide". Oh, wait, that's taken ;-)

Stuff like that would vary from state to state, but most restrict usage of names that mislead the consumer. I doubt "The Crystal Bank" gets confused as a depository institution (not true for the sperm bank I suppose), but most states would restrict the names or designations related to licensed professions (ie: MD, CPA, JD, etc). So you couldn't open an accounting business and call yourself "Certified Public Accountants, Inc" or "Veterinarians R Us, Inc" unless you met the rules and requirements of the professional licensing board for that state. Attorney and Lawyer would also generally be restricted to those licensed to practice that trade. Etc and so on.

--
Paul Thomas, CPA
paulthomascpapc@bellsouth.net

It sounds like you're thinking about the dust-up that occurred when the various Olympic Committees leaned on anyone who was using some form of the word "Olympic".

The level of insanity we have reached WRT trademarks http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:rDu9SPVdAOcJ:www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/eslj/issues/volume4/number1/symons_warren/+trademark-infringement+Olympic.Trails.Bus.Company+Olympic-Committee&strip=1 (the company had been using the name for DECADES) patents,

copyrights, and URLs shows that the inmates are running the asylum.