Google Made The Calculated Decision To Bulldoze Their Trademark Rights
What can you do when Big Co decides they like your name?
In 2021 there were 750 companies registered at UK Companies House with Meta in their name. Did Facebook care when they changed their name to Meta?
Well they cared enough to spend $60m buying up the trademark assets of U.S. regional bank Meta Financial Group. But they also have a few law suits to deal with.
Another financial services firm Metacapital, says in its lawsuit with Meta that it has been using its name since its founding in 2001. The firm said its clients have included major financial institutions like CitiBank, Barclays and JP Morgan. Metacapital said Meta’s name change would cause consumer confusion and requested damages of at least $60 million!
Sometimes large companies seem to use their weight (and their armies of lawyers) to assume a name change despite there being clear existing rights and risk of infringement.
In another case against Google, a company called Gemini Data said it has federal trademarks covering “Gemini” for software, (Google is now using the name Gemini for its AI software).
Their lawsuit said Google was denied a trademark registration for “Gemini” at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office based on likely confusion with their registered trademark rights.
Their lawsuit goes on to say:
“Google made the calculated decision to bulldoze over Gemini Data’s exclusive rights without hesitation.”
So what can you do if you are caught in the cross hairs of Big Co’s name change?
– Develop the merits of your case. Do your research.
– Establish the foundations of your own rights as in evidence of registered trademarks, evidence of use since 2001 or even the patent and trademark office supporting your mark.
– Capture evidence of customer recognition and value attribution to your name.
– Develop your strategy with options anticipating different moves by the other party.
– Decide what your price will be for a possible settlement. Calculate the full impact of you changing your name including efforts to retain and communicate goodwill with your customer base.
– Put together a good legal team
– Identify sources of funding including researching litigation funding options and even consider after the event insurance if the merits of your case are strong.
Think about such risks from the beginning.
Registered rights ® (approved and registered by the country patent and trademark office) are much easier to defend than unregistered rights TM (not registered at the country patent and trademark office), although unregistered rights do have merit in the UK.
Even earlier in the existence of your name when you establish your trademark rights in the first place, think ahead to such eventualities and build up the evidence of your rights and especially how customers know and like you for this name and would be confused by something similar.
Also when researching your name in the first place choose a name that is distinctive and will be easier to defend than one that is in common use.

I am John Pryor, making IP accessible and valuable for your business.
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