fleabay said:

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.

Better to always stay at home, then, because somewhere out there could be a pothole. What makes this particular name more likely to get you sued than literally any other name that you could pick?

a light breeze said:
What makes this particular name more likely to get you sued than literally any other name that you could pick?

His government won't allow him to register the name. They told him it was problematic.

rogerdv said:
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?

…
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.

Every nation has laws about what can and cannot be used for business names, that part is true. Names for businesses and products can be restricted in many ways, especially when the names already have meaning. The most obvious of those is not taking the name of an existing company, but there are also restrictions for names of people, or names of things that are already significant.

Don Quixote is an incredibly important book. When I search for it online, many sources including Wikipedia call it one of the most influential books of all time. The name already has a strong meaning.

You will need to check with your local laws to see about your country's restrictions, but I can certainly see why a clerk at a government office would think to reject it. If you are determined to try again, talk to a local lawyer and ask them for help.

Even so, this is a creative industry. Get creative and come up with a new name and logo. Don't try to trade on someone else's creativity, even if their creativity was from the 1600's. Use your own creativity and create something new.

Thanks to all of you for your helpful comments. Now I know that there is not such international law (or it is not widely known), but anyway I will find another name. I just had grow fond of it because it clearly illustrates how is it to develop indie games in my country: zero budget, no internet and no laws to protect/support you (actually the opposite).

Roger, hopefully you would be reasonably safe with a business name that your government permits.

Tom Sloper said:

Roger, hopefully you would be reasonably safe with a business name that your government permits.

There is no reason to believe this. “Will the government allow me to use this name” and “will somebody sue me for using this name” are almost completely orthogonal issues. You could even argue that a non-permitted name would provide better protection against being sued than a permitted name, if you could get away with it. If a certain class of names is categorically not permitted, then nobody else can have a claim on any name in that class.

a light breeze said:
If a certain class of names is categorically not permitted, then nobody else can have a claim on any name in that class.

You should take out the word ‘else’ for that to be true.

I'm really struggling to understand your logic here in thinking that you can (or should) use a business name that the government won't allow you to officially use.

fleabay said:

a light breeze said:
If a certain class of names is categorically not permitted, then nobody else can have a claim on any name in that class.

You should take out the word ‘else’ for that to be true.

I'm really struggling to understand your logic here in thinking that you can (or should) use a business name that the government won't allow you to officially use.

You obviously can't and shouldn't. I'm merely pointing out that getting permission from the government to use a name and not getting sued for using a name are completely different issues.