Recently a friend and me decided to register the name and logo for the team, but when he went to the agency, they told him the name and logo couldnt be registered. The reason? According to them, international laws prevent from using Don Quixote name, and even Quixote and the windmills in the team logo “to avoid confusions”. Can somebody confirm me if this is true?

In what country is this agency who told you you couldn't use the Don Quixote name?

Not sure if this is relevant or not…

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/cjeu-on-products-evoking-a-designation-73960/

As best as I can understand, by using Don Q you are suggesting that the product being registered is based in La Mancha. “Don Quixote Only Rides the Plains of La Mancha!”

I hope I am not understanding that correctly. It is asinine if that is the case.

Whether or not any of us believe that the name “Don Quixote” ought to be okay to use for the name of a game dev team, it is an inescapable fact that you can be sued if you use it. You could receive numerous legal notices demanding that you stop using the name or work out a deal. They might all lose if you fought them in court. But fighting them in court will get very expensive. It's a risk you take if you proceed with your plan.

This will vary by country, but when I was registering my company my law requires me that (for example, there is total of several dozen rules):

• Company name must not be too short
• Company name must not be similar or similarly pronounced to already registered company (golden rule says, at least 3 different letters)
• Company name can't be “bad” word (this doesn't cover just vulgarisms, but also showing political direction or such)
• Company name can't be a generic word (F.e. naming your company as "Krumpáč” (which means pickaxe in Czech language) is not possible)
• Company name must not break the law (like “Propagating movements against human rights” - naming your company after NSDAP is not going to succeed)
• And so on…

Czech law has similar conditions to trademarks (brands, images, logos, etc.).

You can register brand, logo, name, etc. … although others still can use non-registered brand, logo, name, etc. same as yours. It is up to you to charge them, and you have to prove that they have copied it in case of court case (they don't need to prove they had it before you or such … whole proof lies on offense side). This is going to differ for legal system in every country!

One real life example - do you know Tesla?

This is a TV from older Czech company Tesla (try going to https://www.tesla.cz … they don't make TVs anymore but focus on electronics equipment). They don't have anything in common with Tesla from USA that manufactures electric vehicles.

Currently the vehicle manufacturing company has registered under “Tesla Motors” in EU, and there were some remarks and disputes back in 2010 due to their name. They settled the dispute off court by clarifying that both companies focus on completely different business branch - and ended up registering as “Tesla Motors”.

So in short - read laws of YOUR country first, or to be precise the country where you intend to register trademark and/or company.

I did a short search in our national registry of trademarks, and for “Don Quixote” there are 3 results:

26.05.2006 - DON QUIXOTE GOURMET - Non existing anymore - MANCHACOMEX SL., MANCHACOMEX SL., Ballesteros de Calatrava, Ciudad Real, Spain - roles 29, 35 - Worded

04.08.2011 - DON QUIXOTE - Active - Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd, Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd, North Ryde, Australia - roles 9, 28, 41 - Worded

24.08.2018 - DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA EXCELLENT - Active (conditions and disputed) - INTERPROFESIONAL DEL CONSEJO REGULADOR DE LA DENOMINACION DE ORIGEN "LA MANCHA" ICRDOLM, INTERPROFESIONAL DEL CONSEJO REGULADOR DE LA DENOMINACION DE ORIGEN "LA MANCHA" ICRDOLM, Alcazar de San Juan (Ciudad Real), Spain - roles 33, 35 - Image

So, first isn't existing anymore. The one from 2011 is active, last one from 2018 is disputed (most likely problem with the one from 2011), or problem with some part of name.

Note: Sorry for double posting!

Tom Sloper said:

In what country is this agency who told you you couldn't use the Don Quixote name?

Cuba, but they assure it is an international law. The actual name was Estudio Quijote (lets say, Quixote Studios, in english). The logo was Quixote chargin against the windmills. I did a google search and doesnt exist any Quixote Studios, or Estudio Quijote, or even Quixote Software.

As I wrote in my second post, it may well be feasible/allowable under international IP laws to name your studio after Quijote/Quixote, but you could still wind up spending all your money on legal fees, defending the name.

Tom Sloper said:

As I wrote in my second post, it may well be feasible/allowable under international IP laws to name your studio after Quijote/Quixote, but you could still wind up spending all your money on legal fees, defending the name.

This is true of every name, so unless you know about somebody specific who has a claim on the name and is likely to sue, that's not a reason to avoid using that particular name.

a light breeze said:
so unless you know about somebody specific who has a claim on the name and is likely to sue, that's not a reason to avoid using that particular name.

Unless you know a pothole is deep enough to damage your car there is no reason to avoid it.