[spdustin]

Instructure, the company behind Canvas LMS, is a pretty big company, and their software is used by many, many companies/educational institutions.

It could be argued that Canvas (the notes app here) is confusingly similar to Canvas LMS wiki pages. I hate being the guy to suggest a name change, but it may be something to consider before you get a lot of traction. I definitely understand the instinctive "fuck no" response to the suggestion that you change the name of something you clearly poured your heart and soul into, so please don't shoot the messenger here. Just wanted to bring it to your attention, in case you weren't aware.

EDIT BELOW:

Well, I'm pleased to say that this company did at least some kind of due diligence in this case. They applied for and received a trademark for the Service Mark (with the Standard Character Mark type) "CANVAS", covering "software as a service (SaaS) services featuring software used to allow collaboration between users for sharing information; software as a service (SaaS) services featuring software to create, structure, edit, access, integrate, manage, interpret and synchronize documents, content and data between users".

http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=86642511&caseType=SERIAL_N...

So, "Canvas Labs, Inc.", bravo!

Additional edit below:

Trademark was approved on March 26, 2016 to be published on May 3, 2016.

[jenseng]

Does the trademark office just rubber stamp anything they get and let the lawyers fight it out? IANAL, but these look pretty similar:

85632326 (Instructure):

IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: Application service provider (ASP) featuring software to enable uploading, posting, showing, displaying, tagging, blogging, sharing or otherwise providing electronic media or information over the Internet or other communications network

86642511 (Canvas Labs):

IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: software as a service (SaaS) services featuring software used to allow collaboration between users for sharing information; software as a service (SaaS) services featuring software to create, structure, edit, access, integrate, manage, interpret and synchronize documents, content and data between users

[joelrunyon]

The trademark office will catch it sometimes but the onus is typically on the trademark holder to monitor & object to any trademark filings that might conflict with ones they've registered.

[jspiral]

Yes, I thought this was going to be a repurposing of something in the LMS

[phaedryx]

Same

[ntpeters]

Same here.

[palehose]

There is another company that uses the name "Canvas" as their brand at http://www.gocanvas.com

[a3n]

Not to mention Canvas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canvas_X

[ggggtez]

Or canv.as

[amelius]

"Canvas" is a generic term found in the dictionary. IANAL, but I suspect nobody can claim it as a trademark. I found this about it:

> Generic terms are common words or terms, often found in the dictionary, that identify products and services and are not specific to any particular source. It is not possible to register as a trademark a term that is generic for the goods and/or services identified in the application. If a trademark becomes generic, often as a result of improper use, rights in the mark may no longer be enforceable.

[BHSPitMonkey]

The operative words there are "for the goods and/or services identified in the application". "Canvas" is not a generic term for a notetaking/documentation platform such as this. "Wiki" probably would be. "Apple" is trademarked if you're using it to describe a computer.

[amelius]

Canvas is a generic term for something you draw or write on. Even in the context of computing. See for example the HTML canvas.

[khedoros]

Those statements are all true, but they aren't an argument against the company being able to own a trademark on "Canvas".

Canvas isn't "a term that is generic for the goods and/or services identified in the application". "Software as a Service" would be, and so would "Collaboration Software".

A company called "Chainsaw" could be a lumberjack company. One called "Chisels" could provide stone masonry services. This, despite the fact that those are generic words for tools that would be reasonably expected to be in use for those kinds of work.

[amelius]

The service they provide is essentially a canvas. They go through great lengths to provide to the user the abstraction of a canvas. So this would be analogous to a chainsaw company selling a product named "Chainsaw".

[khedoros]

Crucially, the USPTO disagrees with you (although, who knows? That could change in the future). Is the company providing a canvas, or a collaboration tool that uses an abstraction of a canvas to operate? I think that you're conflating what a thing is with how that thing is constructed. It is a collaboration tool. It uses a canvas. "Canvas" isn't a generic word within the realm of SaaS collaboration tools, so a trademark on that name, in that context, should be valid.

In your example, a chainsaw company could produce a product called Chainsaw, but it couldn't (shouldn't be able to, at least) gain a trademark for that name.

[spdustin]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11382259

They identified the services in their trademark application, and it was approved for publication. (edit: Just to further support your point. Canvas isn't a generic word describing their services.)