Press Release: 23 April 2003
Registered Trade and Word Marks
It has come to our attention recently that an increasing number of businesses and the media are engaging in activities that involve reporting, marketing, products and services that incorporate one or many of the following names:
Smart Home®, Smart House®, Digital House®, Digital Home®, Intelligent House®, Intelligent Home®, Future House®, or, Future Home®.
We wish to advise that all these names are registered word Marks for which our company holds exclusive monopoly rights throughout New Zealand within the automation of services, systems, processes etc. relating to homes and buildings and in particular with an emphasis on the home automation industry.
Our monopoly rights were gained from registering our interests with the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand. These rights give us certain protection and exclusivity within the defined class(s) of business coverage which comes with registered ownership.
As we own the word marks to these names, no one can call home and building automation technology, or refer to their technology or business solutions as any of the names mentioned above. To do so would be considered a breach of our nationwide monopoly rights and could be viewed as “passing off”. Our spelling covers jointed as a single word, two separate words, upper and lower case, and combinations too.
Having to communicate our strategic monopoly rights to several companies in recent months, I felt that it was time I let media and business people who have no or little knowledge of registered trade mark rights a basic understanding of what intellectual property rights are to some extent in our case. Only then will the wider market understand the significance placed on registered trade marks and the value of gaining exclusive rights to such intellectual property before one engages in their chosen business activities.
We have asked several businesses to cease using our company and Registered trade names in all and any material relating to the products, activities, or services their company offers within the building automation industry. We see no problem with them saying something like: home automation, or smart automation, or, digital automation etc, but not our names please?
Attached to this correspondence are copies of our certificates of registration for reference. We hope that this will at least inform the press of our monopoly rights and that they too will respect our rights and refrain from referring to anybodies business, service, products, activities, technology, or solutions as any of our registered names in any published material from this point on.
If you have any doubts as to the nationwide monopoly position we hold with the names noted above, I suggest you seek the advice of a Patent Attorney immediately.
At SmartHome®, we are always happy to talk with anyone using or wishing to refer to our registered names so we can achieve an outcome that sees our company moving forward positively with minimal interruption to our business whilst also protecting our investment in naming rights.
Persons or organisations that are found to breach our rights are usually notified in writing by us first. We feel that the best approach is to be frank and honestly up front. Continued use would then be subject to referral to our patent attorney.
To date all but a few companies have been happy to re word as necessary, and the few that continue to do so may face litigation in due course. We always wish to avoid legal recourse as it never really achieves anything positive. Often the most cost effective option for companies is to change their names and stationery etc.
We trust that this information will be communicated appropriately for reference and thank those who respect our rights to conduct fair and equitable business with our nationwide monopoly rights.
Shane Walls-Harris - Business Development Manager
SmartHome (2001) Ltd
Please feel free to Contact Us directly at any time.
