Is this TRADEMARK infringement?

These comments are made for educational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship exists between us.

You can say "compare to XYZ" then say XYZ is the trademark of XYZ company.

The below does not constitute legal advice, does not form an attorney-client relationship, and should not be relied upon to take or refrain from taking any action.

Ms. Trevino is right on the money. I would only add that if XYZ is, in fact, a federally registered trademark (check at http://tr.im/jkCD ) then you need to affix the trademark registration symbol -- "R" in a circle -- to XYZ on the upper right hand corner near the "Z" as well as printing on the bottom of your product label that "XYZ is a registered trademark of (insert the company's name)."

You face a more challenging issue however. Many companies sell base products for cost or less and then make their profit by selling replacement parts, accessories, and the expendables needed to use the base product. Those ancillary products are very often protected by patents.

I highly recommend that if your business model is to undercut the "well known company" by offering accessories compatible with its base product for less, that you first hire a patent attorney to perform a "freedom to operate" analysis. Otherwise you could find yourself offering for sale products that infringe patents owned by the "well known company." And most of them do not hesitate to sue small business' such as yours to protect their patents.

The above answers are accurate.