New Product Naming - New Service Naming

"The president sings your praises when anyone asks how we came up with the name!"
...L.C.

When you and your president come up with the name Aviator, say, for your new wireless products, what is your next step? A logo? Packaging? Brochure? Web Page?

Wrong. While the symbolism and sound of the name might be perfect for your brain, have you ever stopped to think whether or not someone might have used this name before? Of course, both of you have been in the industry a long time and have never heard anyone use that word for products even remotely similar to your new line so you don't think there can be any problem. Wrong again. In fact the chances are pretty high in common fields that most common names have been used already. And while there are no specific trademark police, you can be heading towards receiving the dreaded "cease and desist" letter - in which case you will have nine days to change your name.

Wouldn't you want to protect your name and marketing once you had done a big launch and roll out? Microsoft never checked properly before running with the name Internet Explorer. Years later they settled out of court with the small Midwestern software company who had used the name before them (for a very similar product) to the tune of $7 million!

So before you get started, familiarize yourself with the various trademark classes and make sure you have an extensive list of all the competitors in your field. Even then, run your final few names past a trademark lawyer before you pick the winner. Alternatively, pick a professional naming agency like ours that checks names as you go. You will save a lot of time and money in wasted meetings and legal bills.

Can we handle your very technical subject matter? See why we probably can at technical experience or telecom experience.

Learn more about our consumer naming experience and medical/healthcare/biotech experience too.

See also Naming Architectures and Name Audits to discover some of the science and research procedures we have implemented for others.