How are trade names different from trademarks and service marks?
Unlike a trademark or service mark trade name identifies a company and its business, rather the specific products or services offered by that business, which is why trade names are not marks. However, trade names and marks are related. For example, if one business adopts a trade name similar to a trademark used by another, the trade name of the one business may severely effect the trademark used by the other in identifying the source or origin of its goods.Consumers may come to believe that the business having the trade name makes the goods sold by the business holding the trademark. Therefore conflicts may arise between trade names and trademarks. Similarly if a business’s trade name is the same as another business’s service mark that identifies the source and origins of that business’s services a conflict can also arise between the trade name and the service mark if the trade name is strikingly similar to another business’s service mark. Trade names can function as trademarks. Many c
