Another web app has plagiarized my app's name. How do I deal with this?

My opinion: It isn't worth it to do anything (especially because you only have a common law trademark). Even if you had the federal trademark, it might not even be worth it. A trademark dispute can easily be $100K and you won't get your fees paid for unless the case is particularly egregious.

Of course, someone will tell you talk to a lawyer. Getting legal advice from a member of the legal cartel is a crapshoot. There are so many terrible lawyers out there who won't hesitate to recommend legal action for every little thing even if it has zero chance of succeeding (I am currently on the other end of that). So proceed with caution. Do your own research on common law trademark rights before you talk to a lawyer. That will help you weed out the incompetent ones.

I would keep an eye out if they file a trademark application (check TESS periodically). You'll want to oppose it. That should "only" cost you a few thousand dollars.

Plagiarism is a different thing.

If you hold a trademark in the US on ezInvoice, you’d contact an IP lawyer and they’d likely send them a notice and if necessary, sue them for violating your trademark.

If you don’t hold the trademark, you’re pretty much out of luck.

I think the best wouldn't be asking internet randos. The best would be asking for a preliminary consultation with a lawyer, asking their opinion if it's even worth pursuing chasing this down.

I imagine if you trademarked it you’d mention it, that was probably your recourse. Some trademark protections may still be available, reach out to an IP attorney or 3 and see what they say.

If an IP attorney tells you there’s no case you should consider trying to use this opportunity to grow your brand at their brand’s expense through writing and calling them out through social media. Probably feels bad but this is what you signed up for, plus they did you dirty here by ripping off the name you came up with and built up for the last decade.

How do you know they plagiarised it? Do you own some trademark for it, or just a domain?

Back in 2017, I got hit with a seize and desist later for app name infringement called "TextMePrivate" and they trademarked "TextMe" and said I couldn't use it. It was related in a sense where it involved SMS/Texting, but mine was through a web app, whereas there was through the phone apps.

They were established in 2011 so I knew I'd lose this case if they pursued it.

That is the risk you take:

1. Send a seize and desist email and a letter if they list an address.

2. Depending on their response, you can either pursue a lawyer or send an even more detailed letter to try and scare them into changing their name. They may be too far into it to change it.

3. Understand that when you do hire a lawyer, you may to prove to them that they copied your app and your name.

There used to be an app called Dogbook that my friend worked for. They got sent a letter from Facebook for "being too similar" and it asked them to rename themselves. I thought they'd fight it, but it seems they didn't want to take on the giant and they renamed themselves to 3 Million Dogs.

I ended up changing my domain name. I lost $150 out of the deal, as I registered the domain for a decade, and had to inform a bunch of my customers that there was a name change and a domain change, Rather than deal with not doing anything, I came up with a new app name "textprivately" (now semi-defunct) and they left me alone.

IP lawyer here (NOT your lawyer). A polite, friendly cease-and-desist letter might well do the trick — if it really is the First National Bank of Pittsburgh PA that's using the name.

And a funny C&D letter can help get your app some exposure, as evidenced by some examples from recent years. [0]

In that vein, maybe you could come up with some kind of publicity stunt, the way a small aviation services company did in the early 1990s when Southwest Airlines started using the slogan "Just Plane Smart," pretty close to the small company's slogan "Plane Smart." The two CEOs — one a late-30s weight-lifter, the other the aging, hard-drinking smoker Herb Kelleher — arm-wrestled for the right to use the slogan, in a big, staged event for charity. The weight-lifter won, but gave Southwest the right to use the name anyway in exchange for a donation to charity — and the small company reportedly got a significant bump in revenue from the publicity (and probably from aviation-industry approval of the clever way they'd handled the matter instead of running to the courthouse). [1]

Finally, you might consider offering to sell FNB the name and changing your app's name — years ago I had a client that provided very-high-dollar specialty software in a niche industry; the client sold its name to a British multinational conglomerate that approached the client out of the blue because their chairman really wanted the name.

BTW, common-law trademark rights can be just as enforceable in the end, even though a federal registration provides significant procedural advantages.

(Disclosure: In addition to not being your lawyer, I haven't practiced trademark law in many years.)

[0] https://www.stites.com/resources/trademarkology/friendly-foe...

[1] https://www.upworthy.com/in-the-90s-two-companies-were-using...

Advertise for ezInvoice and set the budget to $201 per click. The cost will not reach that high unless they start to advertise too, when they realize they will have to pay $100+ just to show the app name on top they will consider changing to another name. Also open up your own website/app for advertising so if they do pay over $100 per click you at least get some money from them.

Maybe not the answer you want, but, the name is really not that distinctive. To win this fight, focus on making your app "better" than theirs.

I work at a company called Switchboard and there is a company named that involved in a different domain than ours in the US as well. Leadership said they pretty much can't do anything about that other than become a well known good product that when people think of Switchboard, they think of ours and not the other kind.

Silly question: If I register "DJFJSKF.com", and then a company later registers DJFJSKF as a trade mark, do I have any rights for the fact I registered before they did?

Not a lawyer but if EZInvoice not your trademark then not much you can do.