We have a clinic in South Carolina providind medical exams ,Drug
Screening , DNA , Health Screens ,...Services. We formed an LLC in the
year 2002 in the state of South Carolina under the name lets say XYX.
There are two distinct services that we provide , one is the medical
testing  and  the rest is DNA testing , Drug Screening and Health
screening, etc. One gets billed through a third party and one we
invoice the customers diretly. In order to separate diferent aspects
of our business for accounting purposes  we created a seperate entity
at the time of LLC formation called lets say ABC Diagnostics d/b/a XYZ
LLC. We started our biz in July 2002. ABC Diagnostics required
advertising in yellow pages etc, so we have advertised that aspect of
our business as ABC Diagnostics since creation. We have been known in
our city as ABC Diagnostics.
Lately , a competitor of ours who has been in biz for 15+ years and
provides the same services has changed its name to one that is very
similar to ours ( lets say " ABC's Diagnostics)causing mass confusion
amongst the existing and new cients.
We undestood that in the state of SC there are no requirements for
registering with the state the d/b/a 's . So we never registered our
d/b/a name ABC Diagostics with the state .
Our competitor was fully aware of our existane , they have visited us
at our office on a number of occassions and have seen our business
name advertised and displayed as ABC Diagnostics . They however claim
that when they did a name search they could not find ABC Diagnostics ,
therfore they registered their new name ABC's Diagnostics with the
patent office as well as the sate of SC.
With all that said, What are our legal options or recourses here ? We
have requested that they do not do biz in the state of SC under their
newly chosen name. The same competitor has expressed an interst in
buying our business as well as name - but we are unwilling to sell. We
have insisted that they ought not to advertise or use their ne name in
SC because it is effecting our business ( actually effecting both
businesses) . I would like some fedback and eductaion in this matter
specifically references to case laws, or court opinins B4 taking any
actions. The Seize or decease rights have been communicated to them
gently and nicely. I would very much appreciate any reference material
I could use on the subject issue to know what my rights are to prevent
my competitor from using a very similar name as mine. I have been
using my business name say ABC Diagnostics ( d/b/a) for 3+ years. My
competitor changed its biz name to ABC's Diagnostics 3 months ago !
Many Thanks in advance...
Sid58