One of the more famous hair dressers who had a line of beauty products successfully sued others with the same last names who put that name on their salon. Sassoon?
But as far as a Disney auto repair, you’d probably be OK. OTOH, it’s a rather uncommon name.
Trademarks are governed by state, Federal and international law, and I don’t really have time to go into all the complexities, so caveat what follows however you wish. Or feel free to correct or add to. I’m writing this in a hurry…
As mentioned up-thread, the main test is the “likelihood of confusion” test (there’s a few versions of this test). The problem with using the name Disney is that they brand so many types of goods and services, that they are probably going to have a decent cause of action for pretty much any business that you are thinking of starting.
On a different note, there’s also the concept of a “well-known mark.” In layman’s terms, this is a mark that is so well-known, it gets protected across the board, even against unrelated goods/services. Disney is such a household name now, that it probably qualifies for well-known mark status in most countries.
So, if you were to open a business with “Disney” in it, Disney will have a pretty decent cause of action against you. That doesn’t mean they’ll win (we’d have to go into all the nuances as to why, and I’m just throwing out some brief points). But, because they have really deep pockets, they can afford to pursue their claim up and down the court system, so you’d really want to be committed to your name before you pick it.
Well, whitepages said there are two Disney businesses in NY not related to Walt.
( There were heaps of Disney Shop entries found, and some related to offices of the Walt Disney …)
here’s one
Disney Plumbing , 920 E 233rd St, Bronx, NY 10466
And there’s a Disney MD as well - its not as exciting as you expect that a doctor MUST use his name !
I can’t be bothered to test every state, but I gather that the rule is that if its your name and its going to stay small scale, you will be fine.
Edit: Well I checked CA and the first interesting entry was “Disney Nail”. Unless Minnie Mouse has moved over to being a fingernail artist…
People might think you have a Mickey Mouse operation.
Years ago in St. Pete there was an operation named Sears Appliances. Mr. Sears had a lot of prominent signs proclaiming “Not affiliated with Sears Roebuck.” The guy had been in business at the same location for years (I’ve forgotten the number) but Sears sued him over the name and he lost. IIRC he went out of business rather than change the name.