My shop is called enchanting earth, but I just googled it and found another shop with the same name. Is this breaking copyright? Is there somewhere I can find the date I opened my own shop shop to compare dates? The other website says copyright 2008 at the bottom, but I think it may be referring just to the design and not the name. Can anyone tell me how I can compare dates, and is it just a simple matter that I'm ok if I got there first?
Do I need to change my name if it's not ok and how would I do that? Please be nice and simple for me, I'm so new I've not made a single sale yet! Thanks!
It would not be copyright that you would be infringing on, it would be trademark. There is certainly that risk.
You should not trust or act on any advice you receive here about trademark or copyright infringement. You can't and you shouldn't publicly share enough information to get solid advice. All anyone can tell you is that there is some risk when you choose the same name as another business. That risk can run the range from hardly worth being concerned about to get ready to dip into your savings to pay legal bills.
Trademark issues are very complicated. A trademark protects the use of the name only in specific circumstances. One of them is when both parties have products in the same "class." Another depends upon the public's recognition of the association between the "mark" and a specific business. That is, how well and in what circumstances does the name bring to mind a specific manufacturer or service provider.
It is well worth the time wrestle around with some of the basics of trademark and copyright, but don't worry about too much depth. It is a specialty area even for lawyers, and lawyers who do not specialize in intellectual property frequently get the law wrong.
You can change the shopid just by typing in a new name click Manage > Adjust Shop Information
Diane Blackman
Experiment! Try things! Then if you can't figure it out - ask. Play with Your Dog
If it's the latter then I wouldn't be AS upset and nervous as THEY sell jewelry (a product of a different class as Tanith says) and you sell clothing and housewares, etc.
But, just between you and me and the fencepost, I'd change my name to avoid any legal crap and to establish my own unique brand.
JMHO
-Blue
"I'm a quitter. I come from a long line of quitters. It's amazing I'm here at all."
Hey, thanks for the reply guys....Evil Genius, click the links in my posts to see the sites...the ones you've written are enchanted earth but my site is enchanting earth.
Not sure what to do here as I like my name, and the other shop is a jewellery shop, and it says copyright 2008 but I think I opened my shop last year so I'm wondering if I got there first...is there somewhere where I can find that date?
Oh maybe I should just change it! Does it change your url as well though?
What I meant was that the URLs you have in your original post go to the same store - the jewelry store. So www.enchantingearth.com can't be your shop (unless your split personality sells jewelry )
Honestly, even if you had your CP shop first, she/he/it has snagged that top-level domain name (which sucks for you branding your stuff ), so I'd seriously consider trying to find something unique and buy the corresponding domain name. But that's just me.
That way you'd be establishing a unique brand PLUS avoiding any legal crap this person might want to throw at you.
BTW, a whois look-up say she bought the domain name in 2005.
HTH and good luck!
-Blue
"I'm a quitter. I come from a long line of quitters. It's amazing I'm here at all."
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), so I'd seriously consider trying to find something unique and buy the corresponding domain name. But that's just me.
