You can use a company’s name without permission in many everyday situations, including reviews, comparisons, news, criticism, and any reference that accurately identifies the company or its products. What you cannot do is use the name in a way that would make a reasonable consumer think that company is behind, sponsors, or is affiliated with what you’re selling or offering. That single question, whether your use is likely to confuse consumers, decides most trademark disputes.
The Test That Decides It
Trademark law protects the link between a name and the source of a product or service so consumers aren’t misled and businesses can’t free-ride on someone else’s reputation. A company builds those rights either by federally registering its mark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or, more modestly, by using the name in commerce, which creates “common law” rights in the geographic area where the business actually operates.1United States Patent and Trademark Office. Why Register Your Trademark
The core standard for infringement is “likelihood of confusion.” If your use of a company’s name would cause a reasonable consumer to think the original company sponsors, endorses, or is somehow involved with what you’re doing, that use infringes.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. About Trademark Infringement Courts weigh how similar the names are, how related the products or services are, how much the marketing channels overlap, and whether there’s evidence of actual confusion.
Two conditions matter before any of that analysis kicks in. First, trademark liability requires a commercial context: the law targets uses “in connection with” selling goods or services. A personal social media post giving your opinion about a brand isn’t infringement. Second, the use has to trade on the mark’s commercial value in a way consumers would find misleading. Naming a company in an honest comparison is different from adopting its name for your own competing product.
Uses That Cross the Line
The clearest infringement cases involve using another company’s name, or something close to it, for your own goods or services in a way that suggests a connection that isn’t there. Launching a competing product under a similar name is the textbook example. So is putting a well-known brand name on unrelated merchandise to imply the brand endorses it.
Famous Marks and Dilution
Famous marks get an extra layer of protection that doesn’t require any consumer confusion at all. Under federal dilution law, the owner of a mark that is “widely recognized by the general consuming public” can stop uses that weaken the mark’s distinctiveness or damage its reputation. “Blurring” is using a famous name on unrelated products in a way that erodes its association with the original company. “Tarnishment” is associating the famous name with something offensive or shoddy that harms the brand’s image.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1125 – False Designations of Origin, False Descriptions, and Dilution Forbidden With truly famous names, in other words, you can be liable even if no one is actually confused.
Domain Names
Registering a domain name built around someone else’s trademark is one of the fastest ways to land in a dispute. The Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act makes it illegal to register, traffic in, or use a domain identical or confusingly similar to a protected mark when the registrant acted with “bad faith intent to profit.” Courts look at whether the registrant has any legitimate rights in the name, whether they intended to divert customers, whether they tried to sell the domain to the brand owner, whether they used false contact information, and whether they’ve stockpiled domains using other people’s marks. Registering a domain reasonably believing your use was lawful or was fair use won’t be treated as bad faith.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1125 – False Designations of Origin, False Descriptions, and Dilution Forbidden
Brand owners can also go through the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy, administered by organizations like WIPO, which is faster and cheaper than federal court. The trademark owner has to show the domain is identical or confusingly similar to their mark, the registrant has no legitimate interest in it, and the domain was registered and used in bad faith. The available remedy is cancellation or transfer of the domain, not money.4WIPO. WIPO Guide to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP)
Hidden Uses in SEO and Metadata
Stuffing a competitor’s trademark into your title tags, meta descriptions, or keyword fields to pull in their search traffic has been repeatedly found to be infringement and unfair competition. The intent is what makes it toxic: you aren’t referring to the competitor’s product to inform a consumer, you’re hijacking their brand recognition to boost your own visibility. A repair shop that services a particular brand’s equipment can reasonably mention the brand in describing its services. A competitor pretending to be that brand to steal clicks cannot.
When You Can Use a Company Name Freely
The law deliberately leaves room to reference trademarks without exploiting them. The main doctrine is nominative fair use.
Nominative Fair Use
Nominative fair use lets you use a trademark to identify the actual product or company behind it. Many courts apply a three-part test: the product or service isn’t readily identifiable without using the trademark, you use only as much of the mark as reasonably necessary, and nothing about your use suggests the trademark owner sponsors or endorses you.5Ninth Circuit District and Bankruptcy Courts. 15.26 Defenses – Nominative Fair Use When those conditions are met, the usual likelihood-of-confusion analysis gives way to this test.
Ordinary examples are everywhere. A mechanic advertising that they service Toyota vehicles. A blog reviewing the latest Samsung phone. A comparison chart showing how one product performs against a named competitor. There’s no practical way to talk about the product without naming it. What matters is that you’re pointing at the other company’s product, not styling your business to look like part of it. The moment your design, logo placement, or wording starts implying a partnership, you’ve moved past nominative fair use.
Parody and Criticism
Parody and criticism can also qualify as fair use, although parody is inherently tricky because it has to evoke the original mark while making clear that it isn’t the real thing. A satirical T-shirt mocking a famous brand has a better chance of surviving than a product that looks nearly identical to the real thing with a subtle joke in the fine print. The Supreme Court has noted that when the use is itself commercial, meaning someone is selling a product under a mark that plays on another brand, the usual likelihood-of-confusion analysis still applies rather than a free pass.
Non-Commercial Mention
Because infringement liability requires commercial use, casual references outside a sales context generally don’t create trademark exposure. Talking about a company in conversation, in an editorial, or in a personal post sharing your opinion isn’t the kind of use trademark law regulates. Trouble starts when the name is being used to move product.
Checking a Name Before You Use It as Your Own
If you’re thinking about adopting a company name, run a clearance search before you print anything. Skipping this is how businesses end up with a cease and desist letter six months after launching a website.
Start with the USPTO’s federal trademark database and check for registered marks and pending applications.6United States Patent and Trademark Office. Search Our Trademark Database Search exact matches, phonetic variations, alternative spellings, and words with similar meanings. A name that sounds or looks like an existing registration in a related product category can still block you.
Federal registration isn’t the whole picture. The USPTO recommends also checking state trademark registries, state business name databases, domain name registries, and the broader internet for common law uses that wouldn’t show up in the federal database. A small business with common law rights in your area can still stop you locally, even without any federal filing. If you plan to operate abroad, check international databases like WIPO’s Global Brand Database and the EU’s TMview.7United States Patent and Trademark Office. Comprehensive Clearance Search for Similar Trademarks
One trap worth flagging: filing a “Doing Business As” name at the state or county level is not trademark protection. A DBA tells the public who’s behind a business name. It doesn’t stop anyone else from using the same name and gives you no enforcement power if they do. Real protection comes from actual commercial use and, ideally, federal registration. The current base filing fee for a federal trademark application is $350 per class of goods or services.8United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule
What Infringement Actually Costs
The penalties for using a company name improperly escalate quickly. The most immediate remedy is an injunction ordering the infringer to stop. Beyond that, a successful plaintiff can recover the infringer’s profits from the unauthorized use, the plaintiff’s own losses, and the costs of the lawsuit. Courts can increase a damages award up to three times the actual amount when the circumstances warrant it.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1117 – Recovery for Violation of Rights
Counterfeit cases are harsher. When someone intentionally uses a mark they know is counterfeit, courts must award three times the profits or damages, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney fees, unless the court finds extenuating circumstances. Plaintiffs can also elect statutory damages instead of proving actual losses. For non-willful counterfeiting, statutory damages run from $1,000 to $200,000 per counterfeit mark per type of goods or services. If the counterfeiting was willful, the ceiling rises to $2,000,000 per mark.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1117 – Recovery for Violation of Rights
In “exceptional cases,” courts can order the losing side to pay the winner’s attorney fees.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1117 – Recovery for Violation of Rights That’s where ignoring a warning becomes expensive. A court that sees you were told to stop and kept going is more likely to treat the case as exceptional and hand you the other side’s legal bill.
If You Receive a Cease and Desist Letter
Don’t ignore it. Not every letter turns into a lawsuit, and some are sent broadly in the hope that recipients will just fold, but the decision to ignore one shouldn’t be casual. If you’re later found liable, the letter can be used to show willful infringement, which opens the door to enhanced damages and attorney fees.10USPTO – United States Patent and Trademark Office. I Received a Letter/Email
Read the letter carefully, note any response deadline, and identify the specific mark and specific use they’re objecting to. Then consult a trademark attorney before responding. The USPTO itself recommends this because each response carries significant legal consequences.10USPTO – United States Patent and Trademark Office. I Received a Letter/Email
Your options generally include complying and stopping the use, negotiating a resolution such as a coexistence agreement or a license, or formally disputing the claim if you have a real defense like fair use or lack of confusion. A lawyer can evaluate whether the sender’s mark is actually valid and enforceable, whether your use genuinely infringes, and whether the demands go beyond what the law entitles them to. Some letters overreach, asking you to hand over a domain or pay licensing fees for a use that’s clearly permissible, and an informed response can shut that down.
If your business carries a commercial general liability policy, look at whether it includes “advertising injury” coverage. Some CGL policies cover the cost of defending trademark claims arising from advertising, which can take real pressure off the dispute.