Same initials...

[Essentia]

I am curious about what other people think about this situation, hence the debate section. I run a chinchilla rescue as most of you know. A member here was nice enough to make me a logo for the rescue, which is awesome. She abbreviated the rescue name in the logo (as you can see in my avatar). A breeder approached me and said that she is known as SRC by the MCBA and asked me to not use the logo and have it changed. I don't breed, nor do I ever plan to. Upon searching "SRC" on google I did not find their website, though upon searching their whole name I did. She said she didn't want people to get confused between us. I even looked up "SRC Chinchillas" and nothing for her came up. Looking at my website, it says "Spoiled Rotten Chinchillas" in huge letters on the first page, so I don't think any confusion will happen. To me it is like two different companies who happen to have the same initials.

I don't want to cause any strife between us, nor in the chinchilla community, but I really love my logo and think they don't go against each other. We are doing two completely different things, they just happen to both have to do with chinchillas.

I will not say the breeder's name, so please don't ask. She was nice enough to contact me through my email instead of approaching me here, so I would like to do the same for her. The only reason I am bringing it here at all is because I would like to know what others think, especially breeders. I want to know if I may be being unreasonable by wanting to continue to use my logo for the rescue.

 

[RDZCRanch]

I think it's completely reasonable. It's simply an abbreviation and since the letters stand for something completely different than the breeder they should not have a problem with it. Not to mention...it's a LOGO which means it is your and can't be mistaken for the breeder's even if they do have a logo. This is what a logo is for...to help differentiate between two companies with the same name or same letter abbreviation. If you were using their ranch name or using your letters as a branch for your chins you would need to change it...but you aren't so no fowl.

I'm a breeder...I have a ranch brand...if a rescue wants to use my letters in their logo I would not have a problem with it. I have my own logo to make myself separate from anyone else with the same ranch name/brand/etc.

Keep it! I love it and I think it's a great logo for a rescue. I personally would not confuse that for a breeder's logo, lol.

 

[Sendra]

There are quite a few companies and organizations with the same initials. They differentiate themselves with their logos and if they are profit/non profit, and don't go asking each other to change their names. I personally don't think any confusion will occur. Besides, as a breeder, she is profit, and as a rescue, you're classified as non-profit. The fact you have the full name listed on your front page as well pretty much makes it a silly argument for the breeder to bring up.

 

[Sendra]

I found this, and it should pretty much help make the point. Link

 

[Stackie]

I don't think you should have to change it. Unless the actual initials are copyrighted by the breeder, you have as much as a right to use them as she does- so long as you aren't breeding and wanting to register your 'ranch' with those same initials, I don't see a problem. It's not like you're trying to impersonate the individual and/or steal their business, so I honestly don't see what the big deal is...especially since you are a rescue and the person in question is a breeder.

 

[Stackie]

Also, it's not like you are branding all of the chins you adopt out with SRC, so there can't be any confusion as to where the chin came from.

 

[Siylvat]

I found this, and it should pretty much help make the point. Link

Whoa. What does the red guy with wings an an animal stand for? lol

As for the question, I agree with everyone else. Don't see a problem with a logo. Now if you wanted to use the exact name, I could see that being a problem, but as they are two completely dif. things. As is I don't see where there would be any confusion even.

 

[Ash]

Ditto with everyone else. It's not like your breeding the chins and using the SRC on a pedigree, which is the only reason I can think she'd be upset, and not something you'd be able to do anyway.

 

[jags]

I see both sides point of view but I know I would not want someone using the same brand I have for use in the same industry. I bet none of the logo's on the link above are in the same industry or produce the same product.

 

[Ash]

But she's not "producing" the product. She's not breeding animals and saying "These animals are SRCblahblahblah". The chinchillas she gets in aren't coming with pedigrees or any such thing that are going to have an "SRC" brand. No one is going to confuse the two on a pedigree, unless they're extremely moronic, and if that's the case, they shouldn't be looking at a pedigree in the breeding sense anyway.

 

[alli713]

I dunno, I kind of see both sides. You're both dealing with chins. But one's a breeder the other is a rescue.

Ultimately you can't be forced to not use the initials.

If you wanted to you could look for other ways to use it, like SR Chins or SRCR putting the R for rescue on the end.

 

[jags]

The only point I am trying to make is if someone says that ABC chins has great chins and you should see them about any chins you want and there are two people with chins under ABC chins then how do they know which one is which. Or worse yet say one of the ABC chins has a health problem or some other very negative issue, would you want to be the other ABC chins?

By the way the logo is very nice!

 

[Essentia]

I see both sides point of view but I know I would not want someone using the same brand I have for use in the same industry. I bet none of the logo's on the link above are in the same industry or produce the same product.

That's just the thing, we don't have the same name, just the same initials, which made a whole lot more sense to use on the logo. Companies use their initials all the time on logos. I don't have my website listed as SRC, it's just my logo. If you click on my website link you will see that it blatantly says "Spoiled Rotten Chinchillas" "Jacksonville Chinchilla Rescue".

I also highly doubt anyone would be referring to my chins on a large scale...like ever. I took in a whole 5 chins last year, which were adopted out to local people. There aren't many chins in FL, so I don't take in many.

Just putting my opinion out there as well.

 

[Ash]

Ok, it was fairly easy to find out the breeder using a link I remembered someone having. The ranch brand used isn't the initials of the ranch. So no one would be saying "SRC has great chins", they'd most likely be saying the ranch name.

But I agree with Alli's suggestion, maybe add "R" onto the end to avoid confusion and show good faith?

 

[Sandi]

That's just the thing, we don't have the same name, just the same initials.

Exactly, I wouldn't google say for example BC chinchilla's if I'm looking for Becky's Chinchillas nor if I was referring her chins to someone. I'd call them by her brand name - Becky's Chinchillas and not BC chins. Also, not to be off topic but I see this in real estate a lot. My boss has the same initials as a long time colleague, both have their names as their company names, both are in the same field of real estate in the same market, and have been living harmoniously with the same initials in their logos.

 

[Chinniechantel]

I can see both sides of the argument here, but if I understand it correctly you are not holding yourself out as SRC chinchillas, but only using it as a logo here? I think is what probably bothers her is the possible confusion, people could somehow mistake the two (however realistically in this case I don't see much of a likelihood) and it probably just bugs her a little. Plus, she has no idea what your future intentions are and now she probably has to think about changing her name for her to feel better, so that would be annoying. I had something very similar happen to me, someone else is using my website/domain name as a page name, not the domain name, but I politely asked them if they could rename the top page because it did come up under my name in a search on google, but they refused. They do not sell chins but have a site about them, with info I don't agree with, so I just did not want any confusion. Nothing I can do though, but I thought it would have been polite for them to change something so simple. Oh well!

So, in your case if it is only a logo, why not add another letter just to be polite, or at the very least reassure the person that you are just a rescue and have no intentions of ever breeding. Or don't do anything, it really totally is up to you, I personally see no problem with it.

 

[Essentia]

Chantel, that's just the thing. They are not SRC Chinchillas either. The MCBA just has their initials as SRC because they are just that...initials. It just happens to be my initials as well which is why they want me to change it. I have reassured them countless times that I am a rescue. The response I got from them was that they can consider themselves a rescue as well because they periodically take in chins. I consider that a responsible breeder, not a rescue. Either way, they aren't willing to work with me and I have been told it is being brought to the MCBA to get their opinion. I have stopped responding to their email as nothing is being accomplished there.

I have no problem adding an R to the end, what I have a problem with is that I have to now ask the person who drew this for me to draw it up again. I also have a problem with being talked down to because they also "rescue" so apparently I have no ground to stand on.

I will stand on this. It's a logo. Logo, logo, logo, logo. That's it. It is not the name of my rescue, just like it is not the name of their ranch.

 

[Ash]

I don't see the big deal. The breeder is in an entirely different section of the US. No one searching for a recue in FL is going to come across them, and no one who's searching for them is going to come acroess the breeder because the ranch name doesn't have "SRC" as initials.

 

[RDZCRanch]

The only point I am trying to make is if someone says that ABC chins has great chins and you should see them about any chins you want and there are two people with chins under ABC chins then how do they know which one is which. Or worse yet say one of the ABC chins has a health problem or some other very negative issue, would you want to be the other ABC chins?

By the way the logo is very nice!

This would be an example if it were two breeders. I'm sure if anyone contacts Krysta it would be very clear that she's not the BREEDER they are looking for considering that she only rescues. She doesn't even do breeding on the side, her thing is purely rescue. I don't see anyone getting that confused with a breeder, not to mention he shouldn't be upset about people getting them mixed up. Krysta is not someone with a bad reputation by any means...if anyone should be worried I think it's Krysta and her good name as a rescuer.

I also don't consider any breeder to be a rescuer. Taking in one or two...maybe even three occasional chins that are no longer wanted does not constitute a rescue. I do that...that's just being a responsible breeder. The rescuers are the people that go out of their way to take in chinchillas in bad situations or chinchillas with health problems. I know many many breeders that will NOT take in an unhealthy chin because the risk to their breeding herd is too great.

There are no by laws being broken. Their is no infringement on another's company name and she's not even using their logo. She has her own logo using initials for a completely different company name that does something different than the breeder. She isn't stamping her chins with SRC and claiming they are of high quality breeding and what's more...she is NOT a member of MCBA and she is NOT using the letters as a RANCH BRAND. To be a ranch you must first be a breeder...Krysta is not. The breeder is wrong, end of story. Thanks.

 

[Sendra]

I see both sides point of view but I know I would not want someone using the same brand I have for use in the same industry. I bet none of the logo's on the link above are in the same industry or produce the same product.

Actually, alot of those in the example are real estate, computer products, or hotels.