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Employer Vs Employee ( CA Corporate Law )...Dispute on company name
Los Angeles, CA
Viewed 775 times.
Posted about 1 year ago in Employment / Labor
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I used to work for a NY based company but lived in CA, as I was the west coast sales manager.so I was always based in Los Angeles. Recently I quit the job and started own venture. I read a book and got inspired by the title of the book and named my company after the title of that book. This title also happens to be the internal newsletter of my old company which they used to send it to their 200 employees in India on bdays / anniversaries etc of employees.jokes etc in the internal email which they called a newsletter.
This is not registered or patent name. so why cant i keep the name of my company of that newsletter (by the way I didnt copy them...i got inspired from a book which is also the same title and I have the copy of that book) My Previous Company is now harassing me and has sent me a legal notice with following points 1) Cease the name of my company because its creating confusion with clients....my reply is that NO EXTERNAL CLIENT or anyone gets the copy of this email...as its an internal newsletter and that too mostly in India and for Indian employees only mainly....so NO CLIENT or NO EXTERNAL stakeholder gets the copy of this internal email or newsletter or whatever you might want to call it...last but not the least...I got inspired by the book title and not their newsletter subject line or whatever Does CA law stop me from that or NY law is different...how to I manage this...I am an small home based business owner and just started so cant even pay the fees of a top-shot attorney and they know it and hence they are harassing me by sending notice 2) They have blamed me for writing to their clients and trying to get their business My reply: I have not written to any of their clients or not trying to take their business....I am NOT EVEN in the same Business....my line of BUSINESS is totally different and there is no overlap or confusion there. I have spoken to couple of clients because we met at the conference and there they came to me and wished me and I replied their greetings and they asked about my company, which i shared with them. I did this because of my long relationships with them during my term with my old company and it would have been rude and un-professional on my part not to smile and even look at them when we meet at a conference or a seminar...but my old company thinks I will take their clients as I was the salesman etc etc..they are NOR HARASSING me and I AM MENTALLY VERY DISTURBED 3) They are blaming me of hiring their employees or encouraging them to leave that company - My reply - I have not hired a single guy in India or US and I have not offered a single person from this company and DONOT even intent to hire anyone related directly or indirectly with them and I can give this in writing.... as far as encouraging anyone to leave.... I have never influenced anyone and its their decision...they asked about my experience with the company and I shared what I feel and why i left...NOTHING MORE than this 4) If I do not reply to their letter in writing and change my company name etc and reply on all other points then they will take legal actions and litigation action against me Pls help me.how does CA law save me from my old employer.I can discuss the case also with you in detail. I am in diff business...I am not hiring or hired anyone or even written to anyone and never encouraged anyone to leave the company...how does CA law saves me Please help me as they are rich and want to use money and muscle power to suppress me and i am a start up..so they know I cant fight a legal battle...they want to chase this legal case so that others in that company get scared and don't leave them or contact their clients or open a company or do whatever they want to do. I know their trade secrets and if i share this with US Govt or clients then they are DONE.but i don't want to arm twist or black mail them ! Pls help me [name and email omitted] - Is this your question? Add additional information Answers (1)
Gordon Morris Fauth Jr.
This attorney is licensed in California.
Posted about 1 year ago.
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I don't know all the facts and have not researched the legal issues, so please do not take this as specific advice on what you should do in your case. You should discuss your situation in detail with an intellectual property lawyer. But, a few general points:
It is not a good idea to try to induce action or inaction by threatening to disclose things you know about a former employer that it would not want disclosed. Leaving aside the duty to keep confidential any legitimate trade secrets you may be privy to, the threat to disclose could be considered blackmail or extortion, which is a crime. If you are speaking, not of trade secrets but of knowledge of illegal acts by the company, you still cannot use the threat of disclosing these to extort. You could simply tell the authorities about any illegal acts by the company (i.e., "blow the whistle" without first threatening anything); but, before doing that, you should get the advice of an attorney regarding your role, if any, and the potential consequences. From what you wrote, it appears the former employer has not registered the name of its internal email newsletter as a trademark, neither with the United States Patent and Trademark Office nor with its home state. But, depending on the specific facts, it still may have common-law rights to protect the name. The main test for trademark infringement is likelihood of consumer confusion as to the origin of the goods or services. So, if you are using the name in a completely different area of commerce for a completely different purpose, you may have defenses against a claim of infringement, even if the employer has rights to the name in its own area of usage. You may also be able to register the name for your particular usage as a trademark with the California Secretary of State (Google for their website), if that is sufficient protection for your purposes (USPTO registration is generally recommended for nationwide use). You should discuss the specific facts of the situation with an attorney with trademark experience. If you have not and do not solicit the business of your former employer's clients, you can easily assure it of that. Same for not soliciting its employees to leave the company. That should blunt any purported good-faith basis for bringing a complaint against you arising from its fears that you are poaching clients and employees. But, you should engage a local attorney to write the letter for you, to make sure all details and facts have been considered, and to word the letter appropriately. It's well worth the amount that you would pay for the few hours of attorney time. Hopefully, such an attorney in the LA area will respond to your posting here. If not, you might try posting on the LawGuru web site.
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