You would need a legal opinion of your own trademark attorney, if you want to have something to wave at 3M when they object to your use. However, there are two general rules: you cannot use a similar brand in any related field if it is likely to cause confusion among your respective customers; and you cannot use a "famous" brand in ANY field, if your intent is to imply some affiliation with the famous brand that isn't true.
You would have to bet that "Post-It?" would be considered a "famous brand" and that the owners have a couple dozen lawyers who have nothing better to do than slap down anyone attempting to use it without their permission.
I'm inclined to say that you can't use it.
It's a bit like naming your company "Rectangular i-Pod". Apple would tear you a new butthole for that. Description of the product's shape + the trademarked name of that product. I don't think removing the hyphen from Post-It is necessarily a big enough change to justify using that phrase. Especially since "square post it" can be read as an accurate visual description of 3M's product associated with that trademark.
Maybe there's something I don't know, but this seems like a grey area at best. Why even take the risk of being sued for your name? It would be highly detrimental to your business if you get everything set up, started your marketing, and then have to change the name. You'd risk losing many of the customers whose attention you had already grabbed.
I say play it safe, and pick a new name that doesn't resemble any trademarked phrases.
Edit:
Also, remember the costs involved with court cases. If you used that name, and if 3M did sue you, then you would have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on your lawyer's fees and court costs. Even if you win the right to keep your business name, you can't recover those costs because the lawsuit isn't frivolous. Do you really want to open yourself up to that risk?
You got much better answers the other day.
But the just is the same = you are trying to feed of 3Ms name recognition and it's not legal.
I checked out your website the other day
are you trying to be a competitor to craigslist or something? If you are, you need to change up your design. The site to me just looks like it is trying to get adsense dollars.
I don't know... you might want to do a bit more research.
I have a website named 'Square PostIt' (www.squarepostit.com). About a week ago I ran into an issue that someone brought up, 'Post-It' has been trademarked by 3M therefore I can't use my name, Square PostIt for the business. With a little bit of research, I seem to see I can in fact use this name. Square is a word, as is PostIt (yes, they are both in the dictionary).
So, can't I legally use Square PostIt as a name? Everyone else on Yahoo answers said no, but with a little bit of research it seems I can.
All answers are highly appreciated.
Many thanks,
Liam
