THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.-ConectUS Wireless Communications filed a trademark infringement suit Thursday against Greenville, S.C.-based Conxus Communications Inc., which changed its name from PCS Development Corp. in October.
“Their new name is confusingly similar to ours,” said ConectUS President Dennis Scully. “We have been using the name ConectUS since 1989 and do not intend to allow a company in the same industry with a similar product to operate with a name that will confuse our customers. We have already had several cases where people have called us thinking they would reach Conxus.”
Both companies are licensed nationwide two-way messaging providers.
ConectUS, pronounced connect us, believes that Conxus sounds almost identical to its own name. Conxus is pronounced connects us. The company said it has conducted an investigation that verified customer confusion when hearing the two names. The possibility of confusion is especially predictable with both company’s products competing in the same industry with paging service offerings, said ConectUS.
“We don’t think the names are similar and the marks are very different,” said David Allan, spokesman for Conxus. “They’re spelled different and look different. We don’t think there’s any confusion, and we will defend ourselves aggressively.”
Allan said he has heard ConectUS pronounced as connect U.S. on more than one occasion.
“They just assumed that’s how it’s pronounced and never called us to find out,” said Scully. “That’s how our trademark is listed. That’s how we answer our phones.”
ConectUS is a subsidiary of Executive Page, which is an Ardis master reseller and distributor of products for Motorola Inc.’s Wireless Data Group. Research in Motion of Canada, which Ardis sought to develop its two-way messaging device, recently received Federal Communications Commission type acceptance for its product. The unit, called Inter@ctive is a belt-top device built with an Intel processor. Scully said ConectUS is already distributing the product to its resellers.
