question How close can two website names be without causing problems

MrOriginal · Sep 24, 2020

In Canada, there is a website called "CanadaComputers.com".

So lets say you also had a computer store and wanted to call it "CanadianComputers.com".

Would you likely run into problems with trademark, sued, cease and desist, etc?

I don't think its such an easy question, because while customers could be confused between the two very similar names, they've taken the name of the entire country ("Canada") as part of their business name -- which is a little different than calling your soda shop koka-cola and being sued by coca-cola.

I'm in a similar predicament, where a website selling the same items in the same industry has the exact same website/business name as mine, with the only difference being theirs has "Canada" in it while mine has "Canadian".

So, for example, if there website was CanadaShoes.ca mine is CanadianShoes.ca

Is this going to be a problem?

passini · Sep 24, 2020

Check the trademark databases to see if the other brand is registered (if you use the domain for the same business category). If used in another sector there are no problems. For example I can reg apple.whatever and sell apples but of course I can't use it for phones...

jberryhill · Sep 25, 2020

MrOriginal said:
Is this going to be a problem?

MrOriginal · Sep 26, 2020

jberryhill said:
There aren't enough facts to make that kind of determination.

One of the most well-known commercial establishments in Canada is Canadian Tire:

They've been called that since 1927, employ 58,000 people, and had $14B in revenue in 2019.

Are they Canadian? Yeah.

Do they sell tires? Yeah.

But, once again, like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or American Airlines, Canadian Tire certainly has acquired distinctiveness as a mark, and not merely as a descriptive term designating a place in Canada where you can buy tires.

Well, it is a good thing it's not Canadian Tire. Rather, what appears to be a relatively small business without a trademark.

jberryhill · Sep 29, 2020

MrOriginal said:
Well, it is a good thing it's not Canadian Tire.

Well, there's no way to know that from the OP. Can a term like "Canada (whatever)" be a distinctive mark? Sure, it can. It's going to depend on the specific facts.

Rather, what appears to be a relatively small business without a trademark.

Where by "without a trademark" one might assume that you mean "without a REGISTERED trademark". Either that or you have already made a determination that they aren't entitled to common law rights in whatever the term might be.

In Canada, or the US for that matter, registration is not necessary to whether or not someone does or does not "have a trademark".

question How close can two website names be without causing problems

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