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For example, say I develop a piece of software that helps eBay users. Can I call this software 'Ebayer Helper' (note 'ebayer' not 'ebay') or are there potential legal repercussions?

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The kind of protection that could apply to your situation is known as Nominative Use. Even though you may ultimately win a dispute in court on those grounds, that is not to say you won't draw a cease and desist letter or lawsuit from eBay.

Disclaimer: This is a personal opinion and should not be considered legal advice.

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That would not be nominative use. That would be a clear case of TM infringement. – Kekito May 23 '12 at 15:34
Is it that clear a case of TM infringement? Based on the issues raised by the Ninth Circuit decision, it doesn't seem to be infringement if his services are exclusively applicable to eBay sellers and require naming eBay in order for such services to be functional at all, a la Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft v. Church. It would be helpful if you could provide an argument that refutes the reasoning provided by that case. The obvious case for infringement I can think of is if his services don't require naming eBay to function as intended, but there isn't enough info. here to determine that. – Henry the Hengineer May 23 '12 at 15:41
There is a HUGE difference between using "the trademark of another as a reference to describe the other product, or to compare it to their own" (from Wikipedia article) and naming your own business with a name that is similar to an existing trademark. – Kekito May 24 '12 at 3:20
"...it is often virtually impossible to refer to a particular product for purposes of comparison, criticism, point of reference or any other such purpose without using the mark. For example, reference to a large automobile manufacturer based in Michigan would not differentiate among the Big Three; reference to a large Japanese manufacturer of home electronics would narrow the field to a dozen or more companies... useful social and commercial discourse would be all but impossible if speakers were under threat of an infringement lawsuit every time they made reference... by using its trademark." – Henry the Hengineer May 24 '12 at 3:31
"A good example of this is Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft v. Church, 411 F.2d 350 (9th Cir.1969), where we held that Volkswagen could not prevent an automobile repair shop from using its mark. We recognized that in "advertising [the repair of Volkswagens, it] would be difficult, if not impossible, for [Church] to avoid altogether the use of the word 'Volkswagen' or its abbreviation 'VW,'": cyber.law.harvard.edu/metaschool/fisher/domain/tmcases/… – Henry the Hengineer May 24 '12 at 3:31
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