

Ask HN: What if you woke up & another company was your doppleganger? - jfdi

I have been working on a hobby project -&#62; startup conversion, albeit for far too long.<p>I bought the domain name (.co), the .com was taken by a squatter (not a big deal), and I registered a facebook app with that name to support development.<p>I failed to obtain the twitter handle or facebook page for my application. Wow - lesson learned here. But I had been focused on dev and missed this. I also failed to incorporate or apply for trademark because I had assumed I could take that step later, closer to launch.<p>So long story short - I do periodic competitive research and check in on my very new and upcoming brand. I haven't launched yet so when I search for my company name I should find essentially nothing of note.<p>I searched recently and found that my exact company name and charter at a high level (online commerce, really simple), literally is being done out of Asia - Singapore or Korea from what I can tell. There are a group of seemingly got-there-themselves people who formed up and coded up what looks like my backend at a hackathon. They do seem legit in the sense that they're trying to make it work and they came up with the name themselves perhaps.<p>My question is this -- I'm 4-6 months from launch, I can't see a world where I entirely rename my company. The name is outstanding. I now have this startup I'd like to make at least rename and give up their twitter and facebook handles -- but they'd probably want me to give up my domain and app name.<p>Any advice/guidance on this based on your experience? Is it worth me just finishing my product and then worrying about the name?<p><i></i>* the question: 
Should I just forget about it, and once I'm ready to launch change my name so something else that's free? Should I get a lawyer on board and go fight this now while they're young? Not that I have vast resources though, still on the pre-launch bootstrap budget. Something else?<p>I would cringe if they were successful - seeing my "baby" name on another company doing what I am doing...<p>Thanks ahead HN
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steventruong
1\. I've said this in a few other threads regarding naming. In the vast
majority of cases in picking a name, it boils down more to founders and their
personal issues with liking a name than the brandability and success of the
name itself. There are some basic rules that matter but overall, being stuck
on a name is more you than it is because the company couldn't succeed on a
different name.

2\. Given the situation with everything described above, I STRONGLY recommend
you move on and find a different name regardless of any emotional attachment
you may have with this one if you want to avoid issues later on. It's simply
not worth it.

3\. Asking to do a lawyer fight on this now doesn't make any sense. Unless you
got a ton of money to burn for the sake of burning it, let go of this.

You may not like hearing what I have to say but honestly, its not worth it.
Keep building, compete, etc... Just rebrand.

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. Merely my own personal
thoughts as an entrepreneur.

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SpaceDragon
You're thinking way too much. Trying to predict what the future will be.

What relaunched said so succinctly: build and launch. Think of nothing else.
Throw away your crystal ball.

Good luck

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relaunched
Your success isn't tied to your competitor. Build and release.

