Legal Question in Business Law in New Hampshire
Someone is using my business name, what can I do?
I am currently registered with the State of NH as DBA Squeaky Clean Commercial Cleaning Maintenance Management & was previously registered as DBA Squeaky Clean By . To get the new name I had to get written consent from the owner of Squeaky Clean Enterprise which I did.
Now today online where I advertise (Craigslist) I noticed someone advertising as SKWEEKY KLEEN. I looked on the state webpage & couldn’t find her registered in NH or MA. I wrote a response asking if she was registered as “SKWEEKY KLEEN” if not please change your name as it is a conflict as we are in the same area Southern NH
She responded
“we are 2 self employed house cleaners who clean in southern NH. I have a degree in business & it is not illegal in NH to say we are a skweeky kleen cleaning service because we clean & we offer a service & if we want to post on a free website we can & will continue to post as sweeky kleen cleaning services. We do not need to register a name is we are not a registered business.
We are not infringing on your service as you are squeakyclean not SKWEEKY KLEEN.
We can & will continue to post as we feel fit. Please leave us to do our business and we will leave you to yours''
Is She Allowed To Do That? What Can I Do?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Someone is using my business name, what can I do?
It appears they are infringing on your business name and goodwill. We can assist you in filing for an injuction.
Re: Someone is using my business name, what can I do?
First, some background:
Registration of a d/b/a is not equivalent in any way to registration of a trademark. The state is not in the business of preventing trademark infringement; they only prevent identical names being registered for corporations and other entities.
Your query further suggests that you are not the owner of trademark rights in "Squeaky Clean" as you obtained consent from another party. You do not indicate whether that consent is in the form of a license -- an attorney should review that as part of analyzing this situation -- but it appears that the grantor would be a better party to attempt to enforce its trademark rights.
As an additional consideration, the brand is so descriptive that I doubt it is enforceable even if the owner managed to obtain a state or federal trademark registration. You can take a shot at the upstart competitor by having an attorney draft a "cease and desist" letter, but think long and hard before committing substantial money (at least $15k) into trademark litigation in hopes of obtaining a quick injunction. And, if you fail at that stage, count on $100k to take the case to trial unless the other party capitulates because of the absurd expense involved. Don't rely on collecting attorney's fees from a defendant like the one you describe....
Best wishes,
LDWG
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