It looks as if there just aren’t enough creative phone names out there to keep companies from walking all over each others’ trademarks. Just like the Cisco iPhone/Apple iPhone debacle of last year, Garmin’s new Nuvifone has stirred up trouble with Nuvio, another manufacturer with a similar name, selling similar products – phones.
Nuvio announced on Thursday that it had filed a trademark lawsuit against Garmin in the US District Court of Kansas, the state where both Garmin and Nuvio are headquartered. According to the company’s press release, it attempt to reach a settlement out of court before issuing a cease and desist letter in late Janauary and now seeking legal action.
“While we would have preferred to settle this without resorting to a lawsuit, we felt it was important to ensure that our customers and potential customers are not confused by someone abusing our legally protected trademark,” said Nuvio CEO Jason Talley, in a statement. “Our customers commonly refer to our service as the Nuvio phone.”
In the suit, Nuvio has requested a permanent injunction barring Garmin from using the name, along with damages for the alleged infringement. Garmin has not yet publicly commented on the situation.
