Company with similar name?

[cabinkel]

Hi geeks, Im hoping someone can offer a bit of advice.
I have been trading under my business name for 6 years. I have received a call from a compnay today to say that they have registered a similar name, and that I cant use it! The names have 1 word the same in it! I am Sassy Lashes, they are Sassy - - -. Surely they cannot legally make me change it. They have registered the name a year ago, and are not local to me at all! Not even same county!
they said they are issuing me a "notice" . Anyone shed any light on this??
Im so cross!

 

[Sarah-Jean]

Unless their name is exactly the same as yours, they don't have a leg to stand on. If their company is something other than Sassy Lashes I'd just ignore them. What do they do? Do they do the same services as you? Can you prove (you shouldn't need to but just in-case) that you have been using your name for longer than they have?

I presume you are a sole trader? And not a registered company? If you're a Ltd company then there is definitely nothing they can do about it.

 

[Ruth Mills]

"Sassy" is a standard dictionary word. There are 35 limited companies that start with the word "Sassy" listed on the Companies House website, Companies House - none of which also contain the word "Lashes".

What they are trying to do is akin to Richard Ashcroft and his band trying to sue Extensionize because his business happens to be called "Verve Designs" - where "Verve" happens to be a standard dictionary word too...

 

[Ruth Mills]

If it helps, your website domain sassylashes.co.uk was registered on 29th October 2009 - so if this was before the date that the other company registered their name, then this will count as proof that you were trading using this name before they registered their name. Likewise any documentation using the name Sassy Lashes from your bank, HMRC, etc...

Of the limited companies with the word "Sassy" in them, notable ones include:

Sassy Hair Ltd (incorporated 16/07/2002)
Sassy Hair & Beauty Ltd (incorporated 22/09/2005)
Sassy Hair and Cosmetics Limited (incorporated 18/10/2010)
Sassy Hair Studio Ltd (incorporated 08/01/2007)
Sassy Kutz Limited (incorporated 03/09/2003)
Sassy Minx Limited (incorporated 08/05/2007)
Sassy Nails Limited (incorporated 26/02/2008)

All of whom could be said to be something to do with Hair and Beauty (apart from maybe the Minx one).

You could always incorporate Sassy Lashes Ltd - as this should carry a lot more weight than just being a sole trader...

 

[elliebee]

This is for the company who are trying to intimidate you

:lick::lick::lick::lick::lick::lick::lick::lick::lick::lick::lick::lick::lick::lick:

On a more serious note, if you have professional insurance they may provide a legal service. Check that out and, if appropriate, you can then tell these chancers to direct all future communications to your legal advisor.

This may well be enough to put them off.

 

[cabinkel]

Thanks so much you guys! Its really worrying when people do this sort of thing! The company is a hair and beauty salon, (neither of which I do, as Im solely lashes and Brows), but he has said that I will receive a "notice" informing me what he intends to do. I have never registered with companies house as Im a sole trader, and was told that registering dosent actualy cover you for much!

 

[cabinkel]

I have just read the email that they sent, and they are actualy quite threatening! the company was only registered 5 months ago! Should I contact a solicitor?

 

[smooth]

Isn't this all to do with a company in the same business area (both beauty even though you only do limited beauty treatments) and have the same or similar names then they can request that you change their name? That's what I got told from companies house when registering a company and realising that there were similar names for other companies.

I think that if they registered their ltd company before you then they have priority over it even if you have been trading longer I'm afraid. However, if you are a ltd company then you can request that they change their name!!

Personally I think it stinks what they have done, I could understand it more if they were very local to you but they're not. As far as they're concerned that is irrelevant to them so why not reply to their letter stating the facts that Ruth mentioned but maybe don't include the harrassment comment as you may just get their back up further (even if you really want to say something much stronger lol).

I would also ask whether they have written to the other sassy companies (irrelevant of what they do in their business!), how they were going to enforce this on the other ltd companies as they have the same rights and if it was really an issue of having other companies with similar names why they chose the name sassy seeing as there are currently xx amount of other ltd companies with the same name?

good luck honey

 

[Ruth Mills]

Isn't this all to do with a company in the same business area (both beauty even though you only do limited beauty treatments) and have the same or similar names then they can request that you change their name? That's what I got told from companies house when registering a company and realising that there were similar names for other companies.

I think that if they registered their ltd company before you then they have priority over it even if you have been trading longer I'm afraid. However, if you are a ltd company then you can request that they change their name!!

Personally I think it stinks what they have done, I could understand it more if they were very local to you but they're not. As far as they're concerned that is irrelevant to them so why not reply to their letter stating the facts that Ruth mentioned but maybe don't include the harrassment comment as you may just get their back up further (even if you really want to say something much stronger lol).

I would also ask whether they have written to the other sassy companies (irrelevant of what they do in their business!), how they were going to enforce this on the other ltd companies as they have the same rights and if it was really an issue of having other companies with similar names why they chose the name sassy seeing as there are currently xx amount of other ltd companies with the same name?

good luck honey

I'm sorry, but I registered sassylashes.co.uk for Cabinkel on 21st October 2009. Any reasonable person would consider it inconceivable for anyone to claim a total monopoly on a dictionary word (i.e. "Sassy") - although it would appear that logic and common sense do not always apply in the field of corporate law...

 

[cabinkel]

Thanks so much guys, and Ruth, thank you for being so passionate for us small guys:hug:

I have emailed the company, and they replied saying that they are starting legal proceedings. I feel sick, but also angry! I have googled the word Sassy and there are many, many various companies with that name. Not sure how they propose to stop them all! They must have very deep pockets.
I am lucky that I have a client who has dealt with company law, so i contacted her and she says that as the businesses are not doing the same, (they do hair and traditional beauty treatments, i do lashes), they are pushing what the infringement laws actualy cover. I suppose I just have to wait it out. Its so frustrating that someone can come and try to take your business name from you.
I will certainly not go without a fight!!!

 

[Ruth Mills]

Yes, this has really offended my sense of justice! Particularly as "Sassy" is a dictionary word which has been in common parlance since the 19th Century.

 

[angel fingers]

probably some sort of scam.
threaten you with legal proceedings then offer to settle out of court if you cough up some money to them.

 

[Ruth Mills]

probably some sort of scam.
threaten you with legal proceedings then offer to settle out of court if you cough up some money to them.

I have heard of scams of this nature in the past, where companies retrospectively register someone's business name as a trademark so they can charge them a king's ransom for the privilege to buy the trademark off them. Not dissimilar to "cybersquatting", i.e. buying an Internet domain name that corresponds to a company name, e.g. someone buying mcdonalds.com - and then attempting to sell it to McDonalds for thousands of pounds.

Whether this is the case in this particular instance or not, I would not want to speculate. As it would appear to be someone in a similar area of business whose name also begins with the word "Sassy", and does not like the fact that there are already lots of other businesses out there using the word "Sassy" who may or may not have been trading for longer than they have. And it's common knowledge that most people have a habit of getting scared into submission when faced with a letter written in an intimidating manner peppered with lots of legal references.

 

[Kim Lawless]

Ignore them! You can prove that you've been trading under that name, so they'll have a job winning. Don't get involved in any more correspondence with them but seek legal advice from your insurers. Don't worry xx

 

[Ruth Mills]

Detective Ruth has been doing a bit of snooping around, and it would transpire that the trademark in question happens to have been registered by what appears to be a small salon - not some huge multinational conglomerate - it's great what you can find by a quick search on Intellectual Property Office - Welcome to the Intellectual Property Office!

But it still begs the question why anyone would really care if someone over 70 miles away happened to have a small home salon and was trading under a different name (which also happens to start with the word "Sassy") - with a *completely* different logo to them.

I wonder what the situation is with regards to these websites which also use the word "Sassy"???
Sassy & Co the place for hair, beauty and style in High Wycombe Bucks.
Sassy Hair, Beauty & Tanning in Allestree Derby
Sharp and Sassy - Home Page
Sleek & Sassy - Home
Sassy Hair and Beauty - Harworth | Bawtry | Doncaster
Afro Caribbean Hair in Bexleyheath : Sassy Hair & Beauty Bureau
Sassy & Co: Beauty Salons and Consultants Serving High Wycombe
Sassys Irvine - Beauty Salon and Nail School Ayrshire
Sassy Hair Studio

 

[lisa.sharrock]

Bloody hell Ruth, you're good at this private detective lark! You fancy trying to find my asshole ex husband for me? Last known whereabouts Romania then Gibralta!!! hahahaha )) :lick:

 

[geeg]

Throw any correspondence in the bin .. Let them spend their money on solicitors .. Don't spend yours. Do not respond. Ignor. They will back off because they do not have a case. For goodness sake, look how many people use Creative in their busuness names they are not harassing you but they are trying to intimidate you ... Don't let them.

 

[cabinkel]

Thanks again all, and Geeg thank you. Thats very reassuring that you too feel its not to serious. It really shakes you up to receive an email of this nature. we all work so hard to build our own little empires!

 

[Sarah-Jean]

To be honest, aside from anything else, IF they were really serious about it then they wouldn't have sent you an email regarding it. The first you'd have probably heard would have been a letter from a legal entity informing you of what was happening and what the proposed resolution could be. It's very unprofessional to send emails regarding legal matters and most businesses worth anything would probably have had a letter sent via their legal advisor in the first instance.

 

[Ruth Mills]

To be honest, aside from anything else, IF they were really serious about it then they wouldn't have sent you an email regarding it. The first you'd have probably heard would have been a letter from a legal entity informing you of what was happening and what the proposed resolution could be. It's very unprofessional to send emails regarding legal matters and most businesses worth anything would probably have had a letter sent via their legal advisor in the first instance.

Excellent point! Emailing a word document costs next to nothing (just a teeny bit of electricity and network bandwidth) - you don't even have to waste time queuing at the post office! Find every "Sassy" in the UK on Google and you are laughing! You know, I really wonder what would happen if all the "Sassy"'s in the country who had received such letters teamed up together to defend their trading names?