<p>I am starting a new company using 3D printers and doing an advertisement, and I want to use the word FabLab to describe the kinds of field that my company is in.</p>
<p>Can I be sued by using the word FabLab in an advertisement? Is it a trademark? I mean, I can find <a href="https://www.ebay.fr/sch/i.html?_from=R40&amp;_trksid=m570.l1313&amp;_nkw=fablab&amp;_sacat=0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> and <a href="https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&amp;_trksid=m570.l1313&amp;_nkw=fablab&amp;_sacat=0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>.</p>
<p>From the links it looks like they all trademarked the same non-dictionary word:</p>
<p><a href="https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmtext/page/Results" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmtext/page/Results</a></p>

[{'answer_id': 15688, 'author': 'Perry Webb', 'author_id': 15075, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/15075', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>Sorry, I needed to learn to use the site.  This site shows Fablab as a word mark, the same way it shows Apple: <a href="https://www.trademarkengine.com/free-trademark-search/trademark-search" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.trademarkengine.com/free-trademark-search/trademark-search</a></p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 19474, 'author': 'tmtm007', 'author_id': 34322, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/34322', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>I did a simple search at <a href="http://www.huski.ai" rel="nofollow noreferrer">www.huski.ai</a>, and found 11 trademarks with the mark word &quot;FabLab&quot;.</p>\n<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PXPXU.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Screenshot of search"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PXPXU.png" alt="Screenshot of search" title="Screenshot of search" /></a></p>\n<p>As you can see, most of them are abandoned, but there are 3 alive ones by a company called JO-ANN STORES, INC. Their categories are something like &quot;paper goods&quot;, &quot;fabrics&quot;, or &quot;furnitures&quot;, etc. So I think there\'s still room for you to register it under electronics.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 19475, 'author': 'Trish', 'author_id': 8884, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/8884', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': '<h1>It depends on where</h1>\n<p><strong>Trademarks are national.</strong></p>\n<p>In the United States of America, the USPTO is administering trademark registrations, but they are not mandatory to get basic trademark protection. The search is available at <a href="https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/</a>. FabLab is registered in the US with two Marks that are alive in 2022:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href="https://uspto.report/TM/85185255" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FABLAB</a> is registered for a motion picture production company and STEM project since 2016.</li>\n<li><a href="https://uspto.report/TM/79264365" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hybrid FabLab</a> is apparently offering Rapid Prototyping, prototyping advice and renting out a fabrication space.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>In Germany the DPMA is administring. Unless you register your mark in Germany, you might not have trademark protection in Germany, even if you have the mark or some protection in a different country - unless there is a mutual agreement to update registers between countries. This is how some marks get an EM entry or an IR entry: European mark or international mark. Their search is available at <a href="https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/basis" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://register.dpma.de/</a> and yields these live results as of 2022:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>EM: <a href="https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/registerHABM?AKZ=011804846" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FabLab</a> is a registered mark from Spain which is not famous and only protects the whole picture-and-text mark.</li>\n<li>EM: <a href="https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/registerHABM?AKZ=018284863" rel="nofollow noreferrer">We Found! Fablab ###</a> is one of two marks that are owned by the same company, it is very narrow and fablab here is not the actual protected part, it is descriptive of the origin.</li>\n<li>EM: <a href="https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/registerHABM?AKZ=018559769" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FabLab</a> is an English-French word-mark on nutrition products</li>\n<li>IR: <a href="https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/registerIR?AKZ=1480492" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hybrid FabLab</a> mirrors the USPTO entry above</li>\n<li>DE: <a href="https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/register/3020192277493/DE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FabLab</a> is for an image mark for only category Nizza 42.</li>\n<li>DE: <a href="https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/register/3020212157382/DE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FabLab München</a> is again an image mark, with a broader list of services than the FabLab mark right above (Nizza 40, 41, 42). overlapping with the mark right before only insofar that they both are for category Nizza 42. However, they are both image marks and look nothing alike, so no confusion is likely.</li>\n</ul>\n<h1>in general: it might not be registrable (on its own)</h1>\n<p>Do however note that in most countries a mark is only registerable if it is not descriptive. FabLab, short for fabrication lab, might actually be a little <em>too</em> close to being merely descriptive to be registrable on its own for fabrication services. However, as an image mark a lot more can be registered.</p>\n'}]
['https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/15679', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/6803/']