internet international trademark corporate-law trade-name
Can choosing a username with corporate terms be a violation of the law?
<p>I recently answered this excellent question on the Software Recommendations SE: <a href="https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/76321/method-software-to-rename-multiple-files-in-ascending-numerical-order-regardless">Method/Software to rename multiple files in ascending numerical order regardless of file type?</a></p>
<p>I just noticed the username of the person who posted the question: <em><strong>&quot;amazonprime&quot;</strong></em>.  I got a good chuckle out of the clever name, and moved on.</p>
<p>Then my curious mind started to wonder: &quot;Could using such a name be a violation of law?&quot;</p>
<p>Well, I have no idea, so I figured I would ask here.</p>
<p>I see two possible issues:</p>
<ol>
<li>The use of the word &quot;Amazon&quot;.</li>
<li>The use of the words &quot;Amazon&quot; and &quot;Prime&quot; together.</li>
</ol>
<p>Is either a legal issue?</p>
<p>(Personally, I hope not, because I think the choice of username is clever and humourous.)</p>
<p>I won't be using my moderator status to look up the user's jurisdiction just to ask this question.  Would that detail even matter?</p>

<p>If the person uses that name &quot;in commerce&quot; then it could be a violation of the &quot;Amazon Prime&quot; trademark.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/trademark-law" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Trademark law</a> is often based on the &quot;common sense&quot; doctrine. The question the court would ask themselves is &quot;could a common sense person come to the conclusion that this user represents the company Amazon.com Inc.&quot;. Depending on the behavior of the user and the context in which they operate, this might be a grey area. But it could become a black area as soon as they offer goods or services which Amazon might provide (which is pretty much anything, considering Amazon's <em>if you can buy if with money, you can order it from amazon.com</em> business model) or even claims to be a representative of Amazon.</p>
