# Trademark question? Using fictional business names for your real business **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193 "2005-07-19T20:28:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/41 "2016-08-09T13:11:36Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > I remember how disappointed I was to find there was still an [Ace Novelty Company](http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/2822/AWPL/ace/) (one of the outfits Daffy Duck used to pretend to work for to get into people’s houses and cause trouble — I’d been considering the name for a small jazz/hokum combo). And no, they’re not in Walla Walla, Washington, but they _are_ in Woodenville, Washington. I used to order materials from the Acme Foam company. The UPS drivers thought it was a hoot. I suggested to the company that they should advertise Rocket Powered Roller Skates but I guess they didn’t like the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/42 "2016-08-09T13:11:48Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > Steely Dan was named after a sex toy described in Naked Lunch by Wm Burroughs. And Duran Duran was a character in Barbarella. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/43 "2016-08-09T13:31:16Z")
> [@critter42](#): > > Nope, it’s definitely US Robotics. Robot itself is a good example of the evolutionary process. Robot was a word coined from a Czech term for compulsory labor, by Karel Capek in a 1920 sci-fi play. It quickly moved into the general vocabulary, and 20 years later, Isaac Asimov created “robotics” as a technological process of designing and creating robots… Neither Robot nor Robotics has been challenged as a common noun in English. So “robotics” is a generic term for a technological process, just like “dry cleaning” or “printing”, and are not restricted in any way from being used within trade names, like US Robotics, or even Asimov Dry Cleaning. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/44 "2016-08-09T17:01:43Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > TyphoonSignal, perhaps you can help me here for a percentage? > > If I set up my own ACME Corporation, could I injunct Warner Bros to stop playing Roadrunner cartoons? > > The performance of their fictitious products [granted, in the hands of a completely untrained and inappropriate operator] will create a strong negative perception to anything I would ever want to put on the market. There were already businesses named Acme long before the Roadrunner cartoons. WB used it because it was a common small business name. The chances that you were the first one to think of a clever business name are pretty slim. It’s possible for multiple businesses to have similar or identical names without infringing on each other. For instance, different cities could have drycleaning shops named Zombie Cleaners. [Trademark Coexistence.](http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2006/06/article_0007.html) ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/45 "2016-08-09T19:03:49Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > It’s possible for multiple businesses to have similar or identical names without infringing on each other. For instance, different cities could have drycleaning shops named Zombie Cleaners. I remember a case many years ago in which a drycleaner named Dy-Dee sued a competitor, Tidee-Didee, for trademark infringement because their names were too similar. IIRC, they lost the case, but I had great fun imagining teams of lawyers sitting in a conference room talking baby talk. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/46 "2016-08-09T19:12:43Z")
According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acme_Corporation), Acme was a popular company name because it would appear early in the alphabetical directory listing in phonebooks. (Presumably this was before an alphabetical arms race developed, with names like “AAA Cleaning” etc.) Chuck Jones says they chose the name for the cartoons because it was already a well known company name. –Mark ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/47 "2016-08-09T19:42:39Z")
Post 40 > [@jtur88](#): > > Robot itself is a good example of the evolutionary process. Robot was a word coined from a Czech term for compulsory labor, by Karel Capek in a 1920 sci-fi play. It quickly moved into the general vocabulary, and 20 years later, Isaac Asimov created “robotics” as a technological process of designing and creating robots… Neither Robot nor Robotics has been challenged as a common noun in English. > > So “robotics” is a generic term for a technological process, just like “dry cleaning” or “printing”, and are not restricted in any way from being used within trade names, like US Robotics, or US Dry Cleaning. Post 43 > [@jtur88](#): > > Robot itself is a good example of the evolutionary process. Robot was a word coined from a Czech term for compulsory labor, by Karel Capek in a 1920 sci-fi play. It quickly moved into the general vocabulary, and 20 years later, Isaac Asimov created “robotics” as a technological process of designing and creating robots… Neither Robot nor Robotics has been challenged as a common noun in English. > > So “robotics” is a generic term for a technological process, just like “dry cleaning” or “printing”, and are not restricted in any way from being used within trade names, like US Robotics, or even Asimov Dry Cleaning. Glitch in the matrix ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/48 "2016-08-09T20:53:33Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > And Duran Duran was a character in Barbarella. Nitpick: Although they named themselves for the _Barbarella_ character, they changed the spelling. The character was named Dr. Durand Durand. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/49 "2016-08-10T12:13:31Z")
I realise this thread is something of a zombie, but it’s apropos to note that there’s an estate agent in London called [Hotblack Desiato](http://www.hotblackdesiato.co.uk/), named after the character in The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I’m not sure if Douglas Adams or his publishers trademarked that name, though. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/50 "2016-08-10T14:51:27Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > I realise this thread is something of a zombie, but it’s apropos to note that there’s an estate agent in London called [Hotblack Desiato](http://www.hotblackdesiato.co.uk/), named after the character in The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I’m not sure if Douglas Adams or his publishers trademarked that name, though. It’s the other way round. The character was named after the estate agent. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/51 "2016-08-10T15:05:09Z")
> [@Gary\_Robson](#): > > I never directly addressed this question. Trademarks apply to a specific industry. Apple Records (the Beatles’ old label) could do anything about Apple Computer until the latter started selling music, at which point they won a settlement… > [@Doug\_K](#): > > … > It’s possible for multiple businesses to have similar or identical names without infringing on each other. For instance, different cities could have drycleaning shops named Zombie Cleaners. > > [Trademark Coexistence.](http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2006/06/article_0007.html) There is also the rather famous case of Hershey’s Chocolate and Hershey’s Ice Cream. There is no relationship between these companies, except for the fact that they were both founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the 1890’s by men named Hershey, who were not related. One would think that ice cream is a natural business extension from a chocolate business and vice versa, but this is not enough to make either one infringing. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/52 "2016-08-11T09:15:56Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > It’s the other way round. The character was named after the estate agent. I stand very corrected! You’re absolutely right; I just assumed that a zany name like that was a Douglas Adams special. :smack: Ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193/53 "2016-08-11T12:33:28Z")
> [@TYphoonSignal8](#): > > Thread revival because it is an interesting question. Australian trademark lawyer here. > > It would be misleading and deceptive contrary to the Australian Competition and Consumer Act. I understand the Lanham Act in the US works in a similar way. There would be a representation of an affiliation with, an association with, or an endorsement by the owner of the registered or unregistered mark, which was not true. > > Definitely don’t take any of these in establishing your multinational: [Imaginary Stocks To Buy (a musing) - World Comic Book Review](http://worldcomicbookreview.com/index.php/2016/07/18/imaginary-stocks-buy/#more-660) I think both DC and Marvel Comics would be quite cross. Not every fake company name or brand name that might appear in a fictional work is necessarily a trademark use. It would first have to be established that “Java the Hut” is indeed an unregistered trademark. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trademark-question-using-fictional-business-names-for-your-real-business/313193.md?page=2)