For example, if I were to name my LLC "Sherlock Holmes Enterprises LLC", would that be legal?
3
-
3The copyright for the Sherlock Holmes stories has ended but that doesn't necessarily mean that the trademark isn't already held by someone.– ohwillekeCommented Jun 20 at 16:04
-
It depends which products or services you intend to trade under that name. It's possible for the same mark (or similar marks) to be used by two different people for two different products if they're sufficiently distinct.– CadenceCommented Jun 20 at 16:18
-
tmsearch.uspto.gov/search will answer your question: there are several "Sherlock Holmes" trademark.– phoogCommented Jun 20 at 22:46
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
There’s no public domain in trademark law
Conan-Doyle’s copyright in the Sherlock Holmes stories has expired but the phrase “Sherlock Holmes” is protected by a number of active trademarks.
As long as you don’t infringe those trademarks, that is, you don’t use it to promote goods and services in the protected classes, you’re fine.
-
-
-
Looks like the link is the result page but without underlying parameter, thus clicking the link will return 0 result. Readers need to do the search manually to see the result (which I got 32 as of current writing) Commented Jun 21 at 5:17
-
I suspect you had a query session open and it's using that saved information. There's nothing in the URL that specifies a Sherlock Holmes query. And if you query for something else, and click on the link again, you'll get those new results.– BarmarCommented Jun 21 at 15:07