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Should I Tack on a Word to my Business Name—to Make it More Unique?

pilet

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  1. The business name "MyBusiness" LLC (dummy name for this purpose) is available for registration in my State.
  2. MyBusiness.com is taken by a domain hoarder, and it's just parked with ads on it.
  3. I registered MyBusiness.co and it's what plan to use.
  4. The "MyBusiness" name is Trademarked by a US Company. It was trademarked 20 years ago for one of their products—that seems to no longer be on the market. The last mention I see of it is from 2005. Trademark is still registered and alive though.
  5. There are several businesses with *similar* names within the US. These show up when searching for "MyBusiness" on Google.
  6. There are several businesses in other countries operating under the name "MyBusiness". These also show up on Google.
  • The question I am facing now, before registering the business name, would it be wise of me to register for example "MyBusiness Marketing" instead of simply "MyBusiness"?
  • Should I be concerned with the trademark mentioned above in #4? I only plan to do business within my state. Legally it should be OK, from what I understand.
  1. Pro thought #1: Having it be "MyBusiness Marketing" could make the company easier to find (probably number one on Google fairly quickly) among the others when searching for my actual company name.
  2. Pro thought #2: I can still operate "MyBusiness Marketing" from the MyBusiness.co domain name.
  • Is it worth it sacrificing the shorter name when registering the company name? Any thoughts on this?
 
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DoTheWork

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I'm not able to give a proper answer to exactly what you're asking, but I do want to say that I'd advise against using the domain you've registered. This is just my opinion.

If someone heard about you and was told your website name, then later goes to type in your web address to learn more, what are the chances they'll type in .com instead of .co? .com is so common that, in my opinion, it's likely that they will visit the wrong site. Your domain name isn't THAT important. You'll be better using a .com in my experience. Just my thoughts.
 

Kid

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"MyBusiness Marketing"
This depends on what MyBusiness word is. If its generic word like monday you might go with it. (Unless its related to marketing monday.com). But if its trademarked word like Google, you are not allowed to go with "Google Marketing".

Btw. there are many same words that are registered. The difference is that they cover different product and service.

Check USPTO what categories actual company has registered word for. Maybe you'll have different category and then TM has bigger chance not violate their rights.
 

pilet

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This depends on what MyBusiness word is. If its generic word like monday you might go with it. (Unless its related to marketing monday.com). But if its trademarked word like Google, you are not allowed to go with "Google Marketing".

Thank you for your thoughts. I should have added that the existing trademark is in a different category than me. The MyBusiness word (I don't want to post it here and have it show up in search later) is not generic, but made up of two words put together. Think "HelloWorld". Do you know if the Secretary of State does some type of assessment of if a Business name infringes on a Trademark before they approve it?
 
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Kid

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I don't want to post it here and have it show up in search later.
No problem. That's reasonable.
but made up of two words put together. Think "HelloWorld".
According to Is It Trademark Infringement If Someone Uses My Company's Name for a Different Business?
the words combined can be used by different companies IF their trademark is in different class. This article explains it in basic terms and is short read.

Do you know if the Secretary of State does some type of assessment of if a Business name infringes on a Trademark before they approve it?
Probably not. I'm not sure but it's rather post factum, meaning they wait until someones go to court with it

It also might depend on State you want to incorporate in.
They check for very similar names of business in California:
A corporation name may be adopted if the name is not the same as or too similar to an existing name on the records of the California Secretary of State or if the name is not misleading to the public.
and as for checking:
Names are not checked against trademark or service mark registrations or against fictitious business names.
source: Name Availability | California Secretary of State

Hope that helps.
 

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