XPost: rec.arts.comics.strips   
   From: petertrei@gmail.com   
      
   On 2/16/2026 12:09 PM, Paul S Person wrote:   
   > 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.   
      
   Generally speaking, if the two product lines are different enough that   
   consumer confusion seems unlikely, a name can be used by both. Apple   
   Computer had promised Apple records to keep out of the music space, but   
   got re-sued over the iPod and Apple Music.   
      
   DEC used to make a popular line of minicomputers under the name 'VAX'.   
   That name is  also used by a brand of vacuum cleaners in the UK, but   
   it did not lead to any legal issues when DEC started to sell Vaxen in   
   Britain.   
      
   pt   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)