Hi, I've been writing a fantasy book for several years with a fantasy name I made up for it. But over the course of the years, before I managed to finish it, a company emerged with that name. Does that mean I can't use the word for my book's name anymore? If not, may I still use it in a composite name like 'The world of ...."? This has been bugging me for a long time now and I'd like to have a definite answer.
depends on what the company is... if it's something as humongous as 'google' you might want to rethink that title... check out the trademark and copyright laws here: www.uspto.gov what's your title?
It's named after the world, Sharmia. So when I wanted to make a website I've found the sharmia.com existed so I don't know what to do now.
you can use it for your title, as long as the name isn't a registered trademark... besides, that company name isn't 'sharmia'... it's 'Shar-Mia'... and since it's a clothing company, even if it's a registered trademark, you can still use it, as long as you don't use it for another clothing company...
Thanks, guys. It will make me sleep better. So basically even if the company was called Sharmia I could still use it as long as it's in a different branch of business? Even if it was, say, a microfinance company I could still use it?
Read mammamaia's post. If the name is a registered trademark, you can't use it. You'd have to use something else. If you're using it in fiction, be sure that you're not using the company's name. It's not about what you can use. It's about what you can't use. And Shar-Mia is something you can't use. If their name was Sharmia, you wouldn't be able to use that.
actually, what i said is that even if it is a registered trademark the word can be used as long as it's not being used for a competing company... case in point is the capote classic, 'breakfast at tiffany's'... this is all spelled out on the www.uspto.gov website...
