Um, are you associated with https://angel.co/luna / https://www.useluna.com/ ?
Because if not, it's usually customary to at least use a different company name before cloning a US startup and launching it for a European market.
Because if not, it's usually customary to at least use a different company name before cloning a US startup and launching it for a European market.
I previously had to take somebody to England's High Court for exactly this
I'm curious. Would you mind sharing some of the background, and the outcome?
For example: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU009432147
Also interesting is what the Intellectual Property Office has to say about passing off (http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-about/t-protect/t-protect-u...):
To be successful in a passing off action, you must prove that:
- the mark is yours
- you have built up a reputation in the mark
- you have been harmed in some way by the other person's use of the mark
It can be very difficult, and as a result, expensive to prove a passing off action.
IANAL but it would seem that a US-based company with (I'm assuming) no customers or operations in the UK would have a hard time showing that the use of a mark by a company which operates within a very small area of London has caused it harm. Also tough to show 'you have built up a reputation in the mark' given that Luna was only founded a few months ago (according to AngelList).
:(