For future reference: very little of what you spent money on is in the critical path for B2B sales, which I assume is what you are doing. One might decide to sell the software to at least one person, then write copy and design flyers. After you have one sale, $1k is presumably not a lot of money. (I am hearing high touch sales so presumably you priced at least in mid four figures, right?)
P.S. Anybody can say you infringe on their trademark, but no one you need to worry about would call you about it. The proper response is "Thank you for your phone call. We will take such steps as the law requires.", then do absolutely nothing until a lawyer C&Ds you on paper. That is the minimum for legal threats to raise above the level of noise.
Don't carry this too far, the owner of a federally registered trademark can sue the hell out of you. I would not play this wait and see game. The trademark database is easily searched.
I think his point was that you shouldn't redo everything because someone phones you up claiming to have a trademark. Give the response he mentioned then go do your homework. If you're actually infringing, it's prudent to stop before the lawsuit arrives.
Thanks for your thought and responses. I appreciate them.
The other business owner has said they've pursued other trademark suits in the past. He said they've found that approaching by phone first has been a more pleasant way for them to solve problems than first sending a C&D (I'm sure, if for no other reason, than to save on lawyer fees).
So you're saying I should wait for an official C&D? I have little doubt that he'll send one. But I should wait until I actually receive it.
90% of people who say they'll get a lawyer involved never do (the kind of people who get lawyers involved, start with a letter from their lawyer).
That's not to say you don't need to change your name/logo, if it really is confusingly similar to someone else in the same industry (if they're not in the same industry, trademark doesn't apply). If there is a problem there, you'd want to remedy it. But, trademarks are pretty specific. If the guy is claiming a trademark on a generic word, you can probably safely ignore him (i.e. if I claim "Joe's Soda", and someone else makes "Sam's Soda", I don't have a case against them...but if someone made "Joe's Cola" I probably would). Also, if you both do business regionally rather than nationally, and he is not in your region, he probably doesn't have a case (though if he has a USPTO trademark and has more than one ___location, he might, anyway).
As you've learned, it's much better to figure this stuff out before you invest in printing and logos and such.
Yes, he's saying wait for an official C&D. When the other business owner said that approaching by phone first has been more pleasant, he actually means it has been cheaper (for him).
Are you in the same business ___domain as they are?
IIRC the way trademarks work is that they are issued for use in specific application area. A business that is using Xyz for a bakery does not violate an Xyz trademark of, say, a welding shop.
So the trademark owner doesn't own the .COM ___domain. I suppose they are not in tech? Perhaps you can offer to link to their website (e.g. if you were looking for Paint LLC, go to here). Otherwise, a change of name is not a big issue, even big companies do it.
The other thing is that there were even two Apples in the world, just doing different businesses.
