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I'm building a service which I'd like to describe through a comparison to another service ( because its very simple to understand from a users perspective and quite catchy ) The service im building is for a completely different market but I wondered whether this would land me in trouble.

For example

Service Name - The Google for your Dictionaries

Service Name - The Moleskin for your Serial Numbers

Service Name - The Mediatemple for your Gym Equipment

etc.....

The service I would use for my description isn't someone like Apple or Coke but there large in what they do. Can this way of description fall under Fair use?

I've read up on Nominative Use and a Previous Question answered onstartups but my context is different and wondered if anyone prior has had experience with comparing their startup to another web service? ( I've seen this done a few times which makes me think it might be allright? )

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1 Answer

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Unless you have the written consent of the trade mark or registered mark holder, you can't use it in your marketing or any other commercial context.

Example of fair uses:

  • You write an article on Google®
  • You develop a plugin for one of their product
  • You mention compatibility with Google® in your commercial documentation

You can't use Google® (without written consent) in your product names, tag lines, slogan and everything that could make your customers confound your product with Google® products.

Also don't forget to add ™ or ® at the left of the trade mark or registered mark when you use it under fair use. (I overly used them to illustrate, you must do it in a commercial context).

More detailed information here.

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Thanks Pierre, thats really cleared things up a lot. Much Appreciated. – karlfreeman Jan 5 '11 at 20:15
And don't forget to attribute any trademarks you do use. You can't have trademark word soup in your material without clearly indicating the trademarks aren't yours. – Julie in Austin Sep 16 '12 at 5:23

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