fun stuff ITTBackground:
One of the companies I import products for has a line of products made with a material with a U.S. trademarked name very similar to the name of a line of products sold by a company large enough to sue my pants off tentacle rape me for all to see. I'm still gathering info but from what it looks like so far, the company I represent owns the trademark in the U.S. (™ on everything) and it looks like BigbadkaisyaX didn't bother or couldn't register in the U.S.(no ™ on any of their products) Now in Japan, last June BigbadkaisyaX registered the trademark in Japan for their product line. Different spelling but same pronunciation (so same katakana spelling) Alot of the products we sell made from the material are similar enough to theirs (on paper anyway) to make me a little concerned. The products/material I sell requires that the the U.S. trademarked logo be on any product made with the material. To make matters worse, the manufacturer made a deal with one of BigbadkaisyaX's biggest competitors for 2012 and they plan on releasing products with the material (and thereby the U.S. trademarked logo will be on them)
From the little research I've done, it seems like I still will be able to register the material's name/trademark (as a material) but if I start selling products under that name (as I had planned), I should be prepared to be bent over and expect tentacles. Right now I think my best option is register the material's name/trademark but sell the products with a different brand name. I wanted to hear of any similar experiences any other FG may have had with trademark issues here.
