A Competitor is using my company name in its marketing material ? ?

[c hopkin]

I have a question - One of our main competitors has started using our company name ( listed at companies house) in marketing material they use to promote courses they run

anything i can do about this

its not trade marked at present

 

[fisicx]

Depends on how they are using it.

Without a trademark you may struggle to get them to stop.

 

[c hopkin]

I'm just looking into the trade mark of the words - I assume if this goes through - i can get the competitor to desist from using

 

[Newchodge]

I'm just looking into the trade mark of the words - I assume if this goes through - i can get the competitor to desist from using

You can look at whether they are passing off - pretending to be you.

 

[Ozzy]

Without a trademark it only depends on how it is being used. If they are using it in a way that could lead to confusion then you can issue a C&D, but if it's just in a way to compare them to you in a fair and reasonable way then you cannot really stop it. It's like comparison tables on websites comparing prices against competition or feature comparisons - all perfectly fine.

 

[fisicx]

I'm just looking into the trade mark of the words - I assume if this goes through - i can get the competitor to desist from using

Possibly. How are they using your name? Are that doing a "we will beat any quote made by c hopkin" type thing? If so you can't really stop them.

It's just like Sainsbury's having the Aldi price match stickers on the shelves.

 

[DontAsk]

They can still use your Trade Mark, without your permission, depending what they do with it.