Company names and legal issues

You may want to consider another name. When we picked ours, we went for something that could be marketed to EVERYONE, gangster rappers, hipsters, eco companies, political organizations, schools, churches, death metal bands, etc. You don't want to alienate anyone with your name, you want your name to be accessible and unoffensive, not that Virgin is, but it does carry some weight and connotations. I've seen a couple companies called "Nightmare..." followed by whatever it is they do, "...Graphics, Screen Printing", and we have a customer called "Bad Art Clothing". If I was the shopper, I would pass 'Nightmare Apparel' in the phone book and move on to 'Smiley Happy People Apparel'.

Now I am not talking smack about our customer, or these other companies, but our feeling is that you want your name to be supreme, you want people to remember it, you want it to be progressive, and you don't want to alienate anyone. Your name is your primary identifier and you need to feel comfortable presenting it to everyone.

This is a ramble, but consider this when picking the name. What do people think of when they think of "Virgin" and are you comfortable with that? Will you be able to sell to everyone?

I agree with Sunny and Dan points of view.

Maybe you can find something else to use, that will give you whatever it is about the word Virgin that drew you in? What is the *feel* or vibe you got from it? What does it relay about your designs and your company?

If the Virgin is the music company, and they sell clothing, they could one day want to stop you if you become successful and they notice you. I didn't click on Sunny's link, but any large company with the name Virgin that also sells apparel usually will have some folks on retainer looking for new start ups to squash who use the name.

I hear Life is Good (shirt company) tried to stop LG (refrigerators, tv's, etc) from using "Life's Good".

That is very much how it can be in business. Whatever made you stop, hesitate and question the name choice early on is something inside of you that is good business sense.

It is easier to change now, and cheaper if you don't have to fight someone, than it would be later.

I just got back from my lawyer today and I asked him a very similar question. What I was told is as a small business owner you have to be very careful with the name you choose. Because, whether it is technically legal or not, there are bigger corporations that may sue you to just stop you from using the name, regardless of whether they are in the same category or if the names are exactly the same. So sometimes it can be advantageous to select a more unique name or even make up something rather than pick something too common. It is also recommended that you do a full name search prior to selecting your name just to make sure no one out there is using it.

Just off the top of my head I immediately thought of Virgin records also. You would not want to be caught in a lawsuit with them. Unless you are a multi multi millionaire they would probably bankrupt you.