Quote Originally Posted by hex1848
Any of you lawyer types good with trademark law? With out going into too many details I want to trademark a name, which I will call widgets. Widgets is a Spanish word with an English translation (just pretend ok ;-)).

Looking through the http://www.uspto.gov search a company has “widgets” trademarked to sell a liquor. I would like to use the same name to market a brand of cigars. Could using this name subject me to a dilution lawsuit down the road? Or am I ok because this is a common word found in a Spanish dictionary?
I am not very well versed in trademark law but this is what I do understand. If your product will cause confusion in the marketplace, either that the two items are the same product or that they are made by the same company, then you may have a problem. Remember WWF (wrestling) and WWF (World Wildlife Fund)? Guess who won that suit . . . now there is no more WWF (wrestling) and they are called something else.

Just because it is a common word will not get you the right to use it for a product if someone else has already done so. When you go to the store do you buy cotton swabs or "Q-tips", do you buy facial tissue or "Kleenex"? When you have a headache do you ask for Tylenol or Aspirin . . . both are trademarked names (as are Q-tip and Kleenex) but we all use them as common names to refer to any number of similar products.

You can try contacting the legal department of the company that currently uses that name and see if you can fget permission to use it for cigars. You can contact a trademark attorney to get advice on your rights and liabilities with regard to your proposed plan. Both wouold be good first (and second) steps to take before opening yourself up to a potential lawsuit.

Hope this helps.

- Jason

p.s. - OK that took me 5 minutes to write . . . at $250 per hour you owe me $20.83 for legal advice.