Does your business name or logo have any value to you? Do you want to protect your business name from third parties using either the exact name or logo or a confusingly similar name or logo in their business? If so, you should consider registering your business name or logo as a trademark and/or service mark with either the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) and/or the Arizona Secretary of State to protect them.

Recently, a real estate broker client contacted us to ask if there was anything we could do to help them because a wholesale buyer/seller of real estate that was not a licensed real estate agent stole our client’s name and used it as their own business name with the Arizona Corporation Commission, on social media and in advertisements. For purposes of this article, we will call our client Awesome Realtors Real Estate, LLC. Our client, Awesome Realtors Real Estate, LLC, formed in 2020 and obtained its real estate license with the Arizona Department of Real Estate in 2021. Awesome Realtors Real Estate, LLC has been actively doing business in Arizona since that time. Many people in Arizona identify quality real estate services through the name Awesome Realtors Real Estate, LLC.

The wholesaler started doing business in 2023 and used the names Awesome Realtors Real Estate Team LLC and Awesome Realtors Real Estate Holdings LLC in an effort to confuse consumers into thinking they were related entities to our client which diverted business from our client. Even though our client had not registered the trademark with either the USPTO or the State of Arizona, as a result of being first in time and due to the continued use of the Awesome Realtors Real Estate name, our client had obtained common law trademark rights in that name dating back to 2021. Our law firm wrote a cease and desist demand letter to the wholesaler and fortunately convinced the wholesaler to change its name with the Arizona Corporation Commission and in its advertising without having to file an expensive lawsuit.

At Hymson Goldstein Pantiliat & Lohr, PLLC, we can help register trademarks and assist when someone commits infringement. 

Remember at Hymson Goldstein Pantiliat & Lohr, PLLC, Our Business is Your Peace of Mind®.

Written by Attorney John Lohr, Jr., jll@hgplaw.com

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