XPost: rec.arts.comics.strips   
   From: psperson@old.netcom.invalid   
      
   On Mon, 16 Feb 2026 12:29:36 +1300, Your Name    
   wrote:   
      
      
      
   >Legally, it's often only when used within the same country that problems   
   occur.   
   >   
   >There are numerous examples of different companies using the same name,    
   >especially in shortened forms. One I often see here in New Zealand is    
   >"Apple" which is used by both the computer company "Apple Inc." and a    
   >local appliance repair business "Apple Appliances Ltd" (which does not    
   >repair computers, just fridges, dishwashers, etc.)*. Plus of course the    
   >big lawsuit when Apple computer company tried to move into music and it    
   >collided with The Beatles company "Apple Records" / "Apple Corp".   
   >   
   >* It's surprising that the US computer company hasn't, that I know of,    
   >tried to get the appliance repair company to change their name and    
   >logo. Apple computer company did try (and fail) to get he supermarket    
   >chain Woolworths to change their logo, claiming it was too similar ...    
   >depsite being completely different images:   
      
   Your later suggestion that they simply missed noticing is possible.   
      
   And I don't know how this works in New Zealand.   
      
   But, in the USA, a firm that /consistently/ called itself "Apple   
   Appliances Ltd" (well, "Inc") might squeeze by on the grounds that it   
   was clearly a different business than "Apple Computers, Inc" (or   
   whatever they call themselves) and so that nobody could be confused   
   and so that the reputation of the Apple Computers' name could not be   
   damaged by anything Apple Appliances did.   
      
   There once was a printing company named "Avalon Hill" which began   
   publishing a series of paper-and-cardboard games based on military   
   campaigns. This was fine until a cosmetics (?I think?) company in   
   Florida named "Avalon Hill" went nationwide. The result, after   
   considerable angst among the gaming community, was that the game   
   company had, from that point onwards, to be referred to as "The Avalon   
   Hill Game Company" or "TAHGC" for short.   
      
   The concerns that usually appear here are either customer confusion or   
   trademark dilution. New Zealand is, of course, free to have a   
   different approach.   
   --    
   "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,   
   Who evil spoke of everyone but God,   
   Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)