united-states trademark
Can a company use another brand&#39;s name when describing their product?
<p>I'm working on a project and the best way I've found to sum it up, essentially my elevator pitch, is by saying:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>It's like X for Y.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Can I use the brand in this context as the tag line for my project?</p>

<p>To use a specific example, could the (now defunct) app <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texture_(app)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Texture</a>, which allowed users to access hundreds of magazines, have advertised itself with the tagline:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Like Netflix for magazines.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>From <a href="https://www.gfrlaw.com/what-we-do/insights/beyond-brand-x-using-another%E2%80%99s-trademark-your-own-advertising" rel="nofollow noreferrer">reading on the topic</a>, it seems like there are four categories for using another brand in an ad:</p>

<ul>
<li>Comparative</li>
<li>Tarnishment</li>
<li>Parody</li>
<li>Fair Use</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Tarnishment &amp; Parody</strong>: I think it's safe to say the example above is not tarnishment or parody.</p>

<p><strong>Comparative</strong>: Comparative seems to center around doing some sort of actual comparison with a competitor, like comparing Coke to Pepsi.</p>

<p><strong>Fair Use</strong>: It seems like the statement above would fall under fair use, but I'm unclear if it's acceptable fair use. I don't think anyone would mistake the statement as implying in any way that Netflix endorses Texture, but the comparison does make use of the value of the Netflix brand (namely, it being a comprehensive repository of an entertainment product).</p>

<p>You're approaching this from the wrong angle. This is not a false advertisement claim issue, this is a trademark violation.</p>

<p>Pepsi can mention Coke in advertisements because that is nominative use. They name Coke because that is exactly what they mean.</p>

<p>The fact that you describe is as "like Netflix " directly means that it is not actually Netflix. You are not using Netflix in a direct nominative sense. "Better than netflix" would be nominative.</p>

<p>Do you have other grounds on which you can use the trademark? I cant see one here.</p>

<p>Yes. A company can use another brand's name when describing their product.</p>

<p>There's a Cadillac Coffee Company (allegedly founded 1888) <a href="https://cadillaccoffee.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://cadillaccoffee.com</a> having nothing to do with GM which bought Cadillac which was founded in 1902.</p>

<p>It might be difficult for someone to sue for trademark infringement given that no one could definitively identify itself as the Cadillac to which you're referring.</p>

<p>Trademark protection applies only to the product category specified in the trademark application. So, you could found a company Cogsley Cadillac Cogs for the product category cogs and no one could stop you from using the name Cadillac.</p>

<p>Mostly "the Cadillac of" but the upenn reference </p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tfibD.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tfibD.png" alt="PJ Clarke&#39;s Cadillac of Cheeseburgers"></a>
<a href="http://pjclarkes.com/p-j-clarkes-bacon-cheeseburger-still-cadillac-cheeseburgers/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://pjclarkes.com/p-j-clarkes-bacon-cheeseburger-still-cadillac-cheeseburgers/</a></p>

<p>There's a reference from 1949 in a book How to Cut Production Costs</p>

<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=oSQ1AAAAMAAJ&amp;q=%22related+to+full-fledged+statistical+control%22&amp;dq=%22related+to+full-fledged+statistical+control%22&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiV-P_Ptp7kAhWl1lkKHV8xCkIQ6AEIKDAA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://books.google.com/books?id=oSQ1AAAAMAAJ&amp;q=%22related+to+full-fledged+statistical+control%22&amp;dq=%22related+to+full-fledged+statistical+control%22&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiV-P_Ptp7kAhWl1lkKHV8xCkIQ6AEIKDAA</a></p>

<p>"It cannot do all that the 'Cadillac' of quality control can do."</p>

<p>There's a reference from 1968</p>

<p>"Creeping Bentgrass (Agrostis palustris) … used on golf greens, is the "Cadillac" of grasses.
– Circular, Issues 424-441, Hawaii Cooperative Extension Service&lt;, 1968"
<a href="https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1877" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1877</a></p>

<p>Urban Dictionary</p>

<p>Here we have "the Cadillac of" to mean the best of the best. something that differentiates itself with superior quality. 
<a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=the%20cadillac%20of" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=the%20cadillac%20of</a></p>

<p>Movie Get Shorty</p>

<p>The only place I recall hearing this was in the movie Get Shorty. When Travolta goes to the car rental location, they give him a minivan. He complains that he had reserved a Cadillac. And the clerk says, "It's the Cadillac of minivans."</p>
